How to Survive Winter

I am a Canadian gal and I want to give advice on how to survive winter. Not literally. I mean those winters we all experience in our lives. Those seasons in our minds when our ideas don’t flower. This is how to notice the signs that you are in a creative cozy time and how to come out the other end.

In Ontario, Canada (where I live) winter has finally arrived to put the other seasons to bed and tuck us all inside for most of the day. I love this cozy time, but in truth, I have been in my own state of hibernation since September. And now, with winter setting in, I am ready to come back into the world. Maybe not fully. After all, winter allows us to live like we are on a ship looking out a porthole or standing on deck for just a moment before returning to the cabin.

My friend Jeff asked me to write a blog post here for MapleSyrupEdu months ago. But, I had no words. Not one. I only had retweets, likes, reposts and the occasional picture on Instagram. My head was silent, not empty, just resting.

I was not burned out. 
I was not recovering from anything.
No, nothing bad had happened to me personally or professionally.

I just wanted to cook and read and workout. I thought for a moment that maybe this was burnout or even depression. But, I only felt depressed when I started to worry that I might be depressed. No, it was part of a natural flow of any life and I am glad I didn’t fight it. If you listen to your body-mind, you know when it’s time to sit back and shut up for a while. Here are the signs that you are NOT burned out, but ready to sit back and get cozy:

1. You feel like your projects, whether they are finished or not, are done. The ideas that once filled your heart with passion have cooled and solidified. They are ready to be put out into the world and for you to move on.
2. You rarely think in terms of Facebook updates. Social media moves forward without you but you feel like you have nothing to say. You would just be adding noise. You are without a signal.
3. DMs, Voxer, Messenger, seem quiet. You have nothing to add except the smooth but mundane list of life’s comings and goings.
4. You are tired of your own stories, but don’t feel particularly hungry for weaving a new one.
5. You’re Canadian or live in the Mid-west, or North-East US and it’s winter and it’s cold, so you just want to wear joggers and drink hot chocolate while researching which music and video streaming services are the best for you.

Ideas 1 through 4 could sound like burn out. They’re not. Don’t get worried if your ideas go quiet and your passions cool slightly. It’s not a slump, it’s not the end of your creative juices, and it’s not depression (unless it is than by all means talk to someone). What is it? A normal part of living. Just part of the ups and downs of a thinking person’s life.

You will miss your passion. You will miss part of yourself that is resting. So, what to do? Well, I suggest you turn to your curiosity. Passion is young and youthful and full of fire and flames. Passion comes and goes. Curiosity is a more stable creative source. If passion seems to have left without a trace, pay attention to what you are curious about.

If your passion has taken a temporary leave, here is how you can stimulate your curiosity. If you nurture your curiosity, that wonderful heat and exuberance of passion will likely return. Here is how:

• Watch. Read. Take it in. Stay present in the space you love, respond quickly to people who want to reach out. Observe the space and see it change. Maybe you will even see things that weren’t obvious to you before because you were too busy being so passionate. In your time of smallness and quiet, watch the world with enormous eyes. Not judging, since you aren’t in any mood to be out there. No, if you are judgy you will end up bitter and burned out. Stay on the sidelines observing and being amazed at all that goes on, even without you there. It’s humbling really. Nobody stops for you.
• Feed the soul and starve the ego. Ballet! Brew beer at home! Unicycle with a friend! Eat bacon for a snack with a late night glass of your favourite red. Look around at what is happening outside your familiar spaces both online and offline. Look for things that are not measureable. Look for things that absolutely nobody will have an opinion about. Do things that nobody can congratulate you for. Follow new leads. Do things you wouldn’t normally. Delight in novel projects and the process. Hang out with your friends.

Side note: Feed the soul and starve the ego is the title of a Glitch Mob track I love. List and read if you like! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpmKjJ4YU_c

• Say no, carefully. People may still ask you to do stuff. You may not be into it, you may have other plans. But, never forget that people are the most important thing in all of this. Make it clear that you wish you could (because you do) but you can’t. Remember that caring for other people’s projects is no different than caring for other people. It sucks when you can’t show up for your friends gigs, show that you feel that way.
• Make sure you are doing an amazing job at something. If you are like me, and being good at something is important, then be good at something. If you can only handle starving the ego so much, then put your energy into something and watch it take off. For me, this was my classroom. I love being a classroom teacher. I really refocused on being present with my students and being dedicated to them. No side projects. No distractions. I felt good. So, for this point, feed the ego, a little. It’s okay. Ego makes you the person that you are. Ego isn’t all bad.
• Keep your mind open. Show up regularly and be present to what is going on around you. If a great idea shows up and the love and passion starts to bubble up again, then grab it and go for it.

As you roll back into routine and try to get going on those things you promised yourself you would do in 2016, go easy on yourself. Maybe you are good to go and have a good supply of passion to power you through new projects. But, I’m guessing that if you have read this far in the blog post, maybe you have experienced what I experienced. Not burnout. Not depression. But definitely a lack of something. That’s okay. Steady work and staying curious are good strategies for the long game. And I’ve learned that ballet and bacon do wonders for the creative spirit. And if they don’t, they are life’s great pleasures so enjoy.

~Michelle Cordy