Well. We’re a few long weeks into this brand new year. 2026! How’s it going out there, team? It has been below freezing for the last few days here in upstate New York. I’m not sure if it’s the frigid winter, the dark mornings, or the realization that Spring is still kinda far away. Whatever it may be, I’ve been having a tough time doing anything more than the bare minimum lately.

But isn’t that what winter is for? This time last year, a friend of mine made a simple statement that quite literally blew my mind. We were talking about the winter blues. I mentioned something about how I struggle to find motivation when the temperature gets too low out there. He went on to explain how in the natural world, humans are kind of the only creatures who still pressure themselves into doing things in the winter. 

This might be an overgeneralization, but almost everyone else hibernates the winter away. To some degree, the other animals are taking it easy. So if I ever beat myself up over relaxing, I like to think of all the bears out there. Cozy in a cave, taking their great nap until the sun comes back.

If you boil it all down, we’re not that different. It only makes sense to do a little less this time of year. Ever since that conversation, I have started to look at my annual slowdown as a natural instinct rather than a failure of efficiency.  

Recently, I’ve been asking myself what life might look like if we all started romanticizing rest as much as we idolize the grind. Rest is a vital part of survival. If you’ve ever tried to push yourself too hard without getting enough sleep…you might know what I mean. At some point, at least in my experience, your body will literally stop you in your tracks if you’re not careful.

No matter how invincible you think you are, life is humbling in the ways it reminds you how incredibly real burnout can be. You can try to outrun it, but that bitch is faster and will get ya good if you’re not careful! 

It’s a real shame that today’s productivity culture has started to make us feel bad about taking time to recharge. We are so much more valuable than how productive we are, after all. It’s so incredibly unfair to consider rest as being “lazy.” As a lifelong over-achiever who never really knows when to quit, I have struggled with this for…awhile. Even now, I sometimes catch myself starting to feel ashamed of resting too much. For whatever reason. 

For the last few winters, I’ve been trying to retrain my brain into relishing the practice of doing a whole lot of nothing. It’s a challenge sometimes, but I think I’m nailing it this year! I have been passing the days by celebrating the small victories. And cheering myself on for all the little acts of self-care I’ve started to sprinkle into the passing weeks. 

An after-work nap on a Thursday afternoon? Hell yeah. Sitting down to read a book instead of scrolling through all the doom on my phone? You go girl. I even do some dainty stretches before work most days, as a treat. It can be a sad time of year for a lot of folks (I miss you, sun!) so why not go out of your way to make your own joy? 

We’ve basically made it through January at this point. If thing’s aren’t going as you had hoped…that’s okay. I have previously expressed my disdain for the whole “new year’s resolution” thing. In case you missed it, I basically think it’s bullshit. It seems overly ambitious to think you can change your whole deal overnight just because a number on the calendar changes in the middle of the winter.

If you fell into the trap again this year, and are having a hard time holding up your end of the bargain, maybe I can help. This year, instead of making one huge resolution, I broke it down a little. I picked a few small goals, and then decided to intentionally follow those for 3 months at a time.

It seems a lot less daunting to strive for something for a shorter time. I wrote my mini goals down on a cute piece of paper (gel pens ONLY) and hung them up by my desk. I look at them almost every day. The brightly-colored bullet points make me smile. I’m happy to report, it’s actually working?! 

My secret, I should mention, is making the goals fun. Rather than trying to change the fabric of my being, I wrote down small, intentional goals that I knew would be fulfilling. One of my goals was to literally make a cake once a week. I love baking cakes. I love decorating cakes. And honestly, who doesn’t love some homemade cake in the middle of winter? I’m feeling more motivated to do something that brings me lots of joy, and all it took was a low-pressure list. Give it a try! 

My other secret this time of year is going easy on myself. So if you were hoping to be a little further along with your goals by this point, don’t you worry. There’s still a whole rest of the year to get it right! In the meantime, I hope you’re able to marinate in the mundane and soak up the slowdown that accompanies this special time of year.