Everything is waiting for you.

It has been a strange week of realising that winter is here—dark mornings spent walking through the fog with a beam of light to guide my way. I finish my day also in the dark, with daylight fading by four o’clock. Late Sunrises miss my photo shoot.

That aloneness – rattled me this week, as aside from my wonderful hubby and conversations with many strangers in my day role, I am missing my morning connection with nature, and the world is shrinking in darkness.

I feel as though I am straying from my course, and my aloneness is transferring into deeper thought, yet my words on social media are slowing down, too – admittedly with a building dislike of crappy scrolling.

One evening, instead, I was reading David Whyte's words: “Your great mistake is to act the drama as if you were alone.” He continues by suggesting that we should "put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into the conversation... All the birds and creatures of the world are unutterably themselves. Everything is waiting for you."

Perhaps the season urges me to retreat and seek the small beauties beneath the surface ugliness. The clouds turn grey, stark trees emerge, and mud and sludge dominate the landscape with brown and dark colours. Everything is barren and bare; a stillness fills the air as nature has largely retreated into rest.

Oh, to the twinkling lights of the season as we decorate our homes, a cozy evening as the wood burner crackles and low light warms the soul.

Oh, to the silhouetted birds outlined by winter blue skies, the Buzzard sits patiently on the top of a bare tree, waiting. Red berries with droplets of rain beside sharp holly. Sparking hedgerow when frost meets the edge of dormancy.  The golden fox walks across my path, looking at me with surprise, retreating no doubt to a warm bed after an early morning search for food. Winter Sun casting long shadows.

Winter Hedgerow

“Everything is waiting for you,” and perhaps that ‘waiting’ is the retreat - to rest and go inward.

Yet, I push this away, wanting to be distracted, entertained, and inspired. I want to cross things off my list, to be active. I need to keep moving. I am driven.

Living simply seems like a big task in itself. Relocating to the countryside has significantly enriched my life, but I now feel a need to really embody the ethos of slowing down. And this is the season to start.

Yet, I know I crave deeper connections and a need to engage in more meaningful conversations filled with heartfelt words, not more isolation or aloneness. There, just there …a handful of ordinary words gathered, cupped, loaded, and swirling.

What do you crave right now?

What do you really need in your life - from the things you assume you need?   

I take a deep breath, anchor myself in truth and hope, and keep an eye on all the little miracles that come my way every day. And for those that still believe in magic.   

Always,