Wintering: The Energy of Relaxation and Retreat in Troublesome Instances

Beautifully written, narrative nonfiction.
What do you think of when you think of winter? Is it a stressful imagining or a peaceful one? Cozy? Uncomfortable? Necessary? With the inevitable approach of colder months, many of our memories or associations with the season – good or bad – are bound to be emphasized by the ongoing COVID pandemic. Author Katherine May invites us to embrace this winter with all that it has to offer. And May doesn’t just mean the season, but rather the “fallow period in life when you’re cut off from the world, feeling rejected, sidelined, blocked from progress, or cast into the role of the outsider.” Sounds fairly familiar at the moment, right? We’re struggling for community in ways that many of this generation could never have anticipated. In ‘Wintering’, May gives us a playbook and philosophy to handle our own personal winters.Beautifully written, May was inspired to share her experiences from her own periods of winter and what she has learned from the radical act of real self-care (i.g. getting enough sleep, being restful, and generally slowing down our routines to combat the workaholic culture). May fearlessly combats the wave of toxic positivity – a newly morphed Instagramable version of bootstrap mentality – that has taken over many of the books that attempt to discuss our reactions to stress. What one can instead expect from ‘Wintering’ is a guide that is more akin to sharing a coffee with a friend than reading a self-help book.’Wintering’ is difficult to place into any one genre. It is the type of British narrative nonfiction I love and is reminiscent in tone and style to the introspection found in Helen Macdonald’s H is for Hawk. Like Macdonald, May reminds us that opting out of misery isn’t an option. Instead we must embrace it and learn from it.May doesn’t just look at weathering personal winters, she turns her pen to the anthropological and the historical as she examines how other cultures and creatures prepare for winter. May seeks out the peace and solace found in nature’s winter. Observing everything from the hibernating nests of dormice, wolf dens, and the survival tactics of bees, to the practice of ice swimming, the wonder of the northern lights, and the frigid cold of the Arctic Circle and how those who choose to live there embrace winter. Casting her net wide a little closer to home, May writes about different spiritual practices that welcome winter; such as attending the winter equinox celebration at Stonehenge, discussing the rituals of winter with her Finnish friends, and evaluating the experiences of those who are battling with Seasonal Affective Disorder. May even includes the literary aspect of wintering by weighing the importance of snow in fairy tales, meditating on John Donne’s poem “A Nocturnal upon St. Lucy’s Day” and Sylvia Plath’s “Wintering”. May concludes that to welcome winter is to survive it. It is a hopeful and philosophical approach that I found deeply comforting.In a lovely bit of writing, May reveals that in times of distress she likes to travel north. That the cold air feels clean and uncluttered and that she can think straight. I adhere to May’s belief that the cold has healing properties. As she writes, “you apply ice to a joint after an awkward fall. Why not do the same to life?” There will always be winters. There will always be periods of sadness and solitude. Therefore, we must prepare for them as best we can. What does this look like in practice? Baking? Soup making? Reading my candlelight in cozy socks? Yes and no. Those things certainly aren’t going to hurt your mentality when dealing with winters. However, it is more about recognizing when you need to coil into yourself. Protect yourself. Sleep. Slow down. Grow. Anticipate spring. Feel the turning of the year with gratitude.I was initially drawn to pick up ‘Wintering’ because winter is my favorite season. Reading May’s book was like finally being clued in to the operating tenets of a fan club. May and I speak the same language in our love of winter. She eloquently expresses her appreciation of the season on every page. The solitude of the cold dark. The cleansing power of breathing in the scent of snow. The ritual of lighting a home fire or candles in the long evenings. Of hygge. She is also realistic, blunt, and deeply practical, clearly defining band-aids for confronting winter and actual solutions.If, as you have grown, find that you are sinking into workaholic tendencies, that the highlights of the year (like holidays) pass with little joy and too much stress, if you missing feeling the different seasons and instead seem surprised upon their arrival – this book is for you.If you enjoy cultural studies and nonlinear narrative histories – this book is for you.If you like observant and engaging authors who are honest and not prone to navel-gazing – this book is for you.If you enjoy guided meditations – this book is for you.I would recommend this book to just about everyone. Based on the variety of topics within, the likability of the author, and the intriguing chapter layout, ‘Wintering’ makes for an engaging read that I already want to reread and buy more copies to giveaway.

Thoroughly enjoyed!
Perfect book for the winter season! What I loved was the beautiful exploration of metaphorical “winters”, the inevitable points in life where you exit the rat race, slow down, was mixed with interesting facts about the literal winters in northern locations, other countries, and discussions on winter symbolism in our culture. It was a lovely journey. The book is a journey. Don’t expect it to be a point A to point B with a beginning, middle, and end. Slow down and enjoy. That being said I loved the first half of the book more than the second half, as she had more personal insight in the first half. Some of that was lost in the second half. But otherwise, as someone with a chronic illness, this book validated what I’ve felt for years , and the enjoyable acceptance I’ve found in my many “winters” with this illness.

Strangely gripping, without real insight
I don’t quite know what to make of this book. At times, it was so relatable that it was scary. At other moments, it seemed so mundane and “normal” that I was actually disappointed with it. I fully expected some sort of light bulb, life changing, all comes down to this sentence epiphany. But this book is like quiet grandmother wisdom – tidbits you’ve heard your whole life but never bothered to pay any attention to until you REALLY needed it. Overall, good. Would recommend it, but I’m most disappointed about paying for it. This is the perfect library checkout when you’re craving some self-help but don’t know what to read. It’s far from the kind of book I’d recommend to run out and buy ASAP.

Finding a way to retreat from the world to heal
The author experienced several major life incidents that led her to leave her job. She felt adrift, but was fortunate enough to have the resources to take a step back from life to retreat and rest. Through her experience and her research, she discusses the power of pulling back and hibernation, taking in the quiet to restore her mental and physical health. I enjoyed the book and I think it offers some interesting perspectives as well as some techniques to begin to heal from trauma, but it is not something that everyone has the time or resources to fully experience.

Nada recomendable! Lo dejé a la mitad. Demasiada paja para decir las ideas centrales.