Winters are hard. The days are short and dark and almost uniformly gray in this part of the world. Leaving bed almost always seems like a bad idea, even when there’s plenty on my To-Do List and I know I’ll feel even worse if I don’t accomplish at least the majority of them.
I’m at odds with myself a lot in winter. I take vitamin D (when I remember), I’ve invested in a Happy Lamp (that feels entirely too bright), and I’m trying to get movement back into my routine. But there are still days where I struggle. Where my mind moves considerably faster than my body and I feel every kind of out of sorts.
Today is one of those days.
Recently, a friend was in a similar stressy-and-depressy place. When she asked for advice I suggested she do some light stretching and then maybe repot some plants? So, when I woke up feeling less than stellar, I decided to take my own advice.
Now, I’m sure I’ve mentioned it in the past, but if you’re new here, I have a lot of plants. I just counted, and I have 19 potted, indoor plants, four herbs in an aerogarden, and then the outside garden (which we will not speak of, at the moment). And while none of my plants are what I’d describe as high maintenance, caring for them all does take a healthy chunk of time. 
I took that time today, harvesting herbs, watering and trimming and spritzing through almost every room in the house, and I noticed something. Almost all of my plants show some signs of stress. Both drooping, yellow leaves, and crispy, dried out brown ones appear often– sometimes even on the same plant! Because winters are hard.
Shorter, cooler days offer such little sunlight, and even then it’s often shrouded behind steely clouds. Watering needs fluctuate and I am not the most attentive waterer to begin with, so the odds are high that one plant is over-watered while another waits, parched. And when you account for my own distraction and devotion to the novel, it makes a sad kind of sense. My hard winter compounds the plants’ hard winter.
But, you know what else I noticed?
New growth. The peace lily with three drooping, brown leaves? It’s flowered twice this winter (I do not understand how this is possible, but I have rejoiced with each brilliant white bloom). Its pup that I repotted this summer has been sad and wilty much of this season, but it stands a little taller after each watering. The avocado tree that lost so many leaves last winter, has not lost a single one this year. And the bamboo plant that should have died during our stint in Airbnbs last year, that hasn’t grown a new leaf in over a year? It has the tiniest little sprout at the center of what old leaves remain.
All of this is to say, I suppose, that yes, winters are hard. But, we don’t just survive them… We grow through them.
I hope you find little moments of calm and stillness in these dwindling winter days. Might I suggest doing some yoga or tending to a plant (or 20)? I’m beginning my third – and possibly final – revision pass today. I remain on track to have the book done by March 1st. Wish me luck, Bloggos.
BZ
