Taking a fallow January.
Sophie Lombardi
This morning, I watched the sun half-heartedly rise to approximately 2 inches above the horizon (scientific measurement). Stood in a freezing cold field at 8 am on January 3rd, I felt it’s weariness and wondered why we choose this particularly time in the year to transform our lives through resolutions or less aggressive manifestations.
Christmas and the Winter Solstice are out of step with each other. The Christmas frission demands a lot of our energy. From parties to shopping, cooking and decorating, it is a joyful but frequently exhausting time. At this time of year Norovirus and flu are already doing the rounds and we smash our weakened immune sytems with too long to-do lists and boozy late nights Don’t get me wrong, I love a bit of Christmas, but in January we must respect that winter is a fallow season
I haven’t seen our resident hedgehog for days. I expect he is curled in a ball somewhere under a pile of leaves and not manifesting or taking up wall pilates. He will probably get out and about again in April, which I think is a good time to start afresh unlike the long, cold days of January.
Humans have not evolved to hibernate but we can do something similar to restore our energies and suspend some of life’s demands. We can shut out the bad weather and enjoy solitude for a while. I will be spending January reading and dunking biscuits in my tea, perhaps doing a little bit of thinking about what I want from the coming year when it starts properly in springtime. I love this poem by David Gate who perfectly describes a ‘lessening January’ and the ‘down time’ we all need to wake up feeling refreshed and maybe even ready to make some changes in our lives.
