Winter Arc
A little story about how travel and conversation can shape and change our perspectives, our lives, and our actions…
This winter, I made (and stuck to) a hibernation commitment… zero social commitments from December 1-Feb 1st.
I called it Bear Mode.
It was inspired by a conversation had while on retreat in Iceland when I asked our guide, “what do y’all do in the winter months when it’s so cold and dark all the time?”
Inga shared that Icelanders tend to either:
drink more alcohol
have more sex, or
go inside creatively.
Option 3 sounded amazing.
Four months later & sometime in November, I saw the words Winter Arc floating around on my social media feed. My first thought association was oooooooohhh, Icelandic Option 3! Hooray!! It turned out that the Winter Arc being referred to was about dialing in your fitness and nutrition during the winter months. (yawn)
This struck me as painfully unoriginal and in direct conflict with the season of winter. No shade towards pursuing physical transformation - been there, done that, still doing it even - it just paled in comparison to the Winter Arc seed Inga had planted. I immediately decided that MY Winter Arc was going to be an Icelandic option 3: going inside creatively, focusing on my family, my yoga studies, and my recovery commitments. Leaning into the season rather than railing against it.
It was dope. I designed a space, improved my guitar hero game, spent lots of time with my sweet children & husband, learned how to use a sewing machine, completed multiple puzzles, and made a raincoat for my dog.
The point being that this is one of the many ways that travel and conversation has impacted my life, essentially hacking the algorithm both in my mind and in my feed, long after the trip and the conversation ended.
With spring approaching, I wonder what my spring arc will hold…