Your Unapologetic Guide to Gentle Hibernation

How are you really doing? Not the polite answer we give at the grocery store, but the honest one we whisper to ourselves when the house is finally quiet.

I suddenly realized that January is almost over. And I’ll be unapologetically honest: January has never been my favorite month. It often feels like a deep, necessary exhale after the sparkle, noise, and expectations of December, a month that can leave us both grateful and utterly exhausted.

And yet… while January may have passed without the usual highlights, it brought something far more valuable: a profound stillness. A kind of cleansing. It’s a soft winter sleep after everything that came before, a moment where life gently asks us to slow down, rather than rush ahead. This quiet time is not a pause; it is a powerful, intentional act.

For me, January and February always feel like the in-between months. The ones where not much seems to happen on the surface, while everything quietly gathers energy underneath. We are waiting for March, when spring suddenly bursts open and the world feels lighter again.

But nature doesn’t hurry. And neither should we.

We don’t hibernate like animals, but we are deeply seasonal beings. Shorter days, less light, colder air—our bodies and nervous systems feel this. Especially as women. And often even more so as we move through our forties and beyond. This time of life already asks a lot of us: hormonal shifts, changing energy levels, and a deeper emotional awareness. Winter can amplify all of that.

Instead of seeing this as something that’s “wrong” with us, perhaps it is simply an invitation.

An invitation to wintering.

Psychologists sometimes call this “wintering”: allowing yourself to slow down, turn inward, rest more deeply, and release the pressure to always be productive, social, or upbeat. When we fight this natural rhythm, winter can feel heavy or draining. But when we lean into it, it becomes a gentle, nourishing pause—one that prepares us for the growth that will come later.