“ A year ago, I could barely envision a day like the one I describe above, with my kids involved in helping in the yard”
This sentence moved me. I’m in a really challenging parenting season where a lot of even mundane joys feel hopelessly out of reach. It is comforting to be reminded that the future can be both unimaginable and perfectly ordinary.
Christine, I loved this. The idea of wintering is so hopeful. "We do not plant all the time. We do not grow all the time. We are not harvesting all the time. Sometimes we are just mixing in some old food scraps that turned into black cow poop looking balls, and we trust that weird shit like that is somehow going to turn us into something more magical. But first, we wait." Eeeee! So good.
I celebrate your emergence from a long winter and hope you enjoy the spring! My winter was very different to yours but the timing of emergence coincides. Cheers!
What a difference a year makes. Glad you are feeling better, Christine. Like you I’ve always dreaded the dark and cold of winter. It’s so good to start the season looking forward instead to resting and lying fallow and also anticipating new growth in the spring. Thanks for helping me frame winter more positively.
Here's to hoping we can continue viewing it positively, even as it gets colder and darker! Being still / resting / being "unproductive" is so important too.
This 4w5 is cheering you on for feeling your emotions! ;) For real though, your words about PPD and the future feeling impossibly far away–I felt that in my bones. My eldest is 14, my youngest is almost 7, and I am still sorting through how much those early years took a toll on my mental and everything else health. I'm so glad you are coming into a better season.
Lol I take the cheering! Like any good 5 I’m very good at thinking my emotions; less good at feeling them ;)
It’s really nice to have solidarity and hear your experience. It’s why I’m willing to risk judgment from people who haven’t been there to share honestly about how I’ve felt!
🧡🧡 so beautiful, Christine. (We also have some culture war candidates who made it onto our school board 😫) Feeling thankful for your words and it’s making me want to pull out my copy of wintering. And it’s also giving me a little kick in the butt to go clean up my garden beds! Lol.
Lol Christine I am so sorry. I’ve been investigating RT on the neurodivergent community and suicides through 12 steps cleansings & I saw your post and commented. I was so excited to see someone brave enough to talk about it, I didn’t realize your blog wasn’t neurodivergent. Could have fooled me lol! Keep up the good fight. Awareness is key to recovery no matter what knowledge you are bringing to the table. Whether it’s autistic or neurotypical, trauma is trauma. It effects us all differently. I’ve been taken advantage of by manipulative types for most my life (being undiagnosed) and it became traumatic when I had to turn to religous recovery rooms to save my life. In there it’s manipulation into a belief that takes me away from our planet and it caused me a handful of recovery stints… each time I left I fell victim to myself and recovery became harder and harder to accept. 4yrs of recovery tomorrow?!😬 Not trying to cap on any religions, but I’m an atheist that practices secular Buddhism now. If anyone ever starts to hear the word god and you get so overstimulated enough to harm yourself with or without substances, you may have experienced religious trauma. We’ve been told over and over that monotheism and god is good for us all… I know there are are other diverse people out there that have experience RT now and that gives me purpose to talk about it. I believe undiagnosed neurodivergents (that need acceptance and love) are and have been ostracized in Christian based 12 step programs since they’ve been around. Neurodivergents have a special mind and are already more prone for suicide. These days we are being targeted in these programs because the world is breaking free from RT and we’re diverse so it’s obviously our fault lol. I apologize for all that my meds help me with my selective mutism and in turn I become a blabber mouth lol. Keep up the good fight Christine and let me know if I can help in anyway
“ A year ago, I could barely envision a day like the one I describe above, with my kids involved in helping in the yard”
This sentence moved me. I’m in a really challenging parenting season where a lot of even mundane joys feel hopelessly out of reach. It is comforting to be reminded that the future can be both unimaginable and perfectly ordinary.
I'm so glad that part touched you, Shaina -- I still need those reminders / hopes myself! Sending love and hope to you ❤️
Christine, I loved this. The idea of wintering is so hopeful. "We do not plant all the time. We do not grow all the time. We are not harvesting all the time. Sometimes we are just mixing in some old food scraps that turned into black cow poop looking balls, and we trust that weird shit like that is somehow going to turn us into something more magical. But first, we wait." Eeeee! So good.
Ahh! Thank you so much, Kandi!
I celebrate your emergence from a long winter and hope you enjoy the spring! My winter was very different to yours but the timing of emergence coincides. Cheers!
What a difference a year makes. Glad you are feeling better, Christine. Like you I’ve always dreaded the dark and cold of winter. It’s so good to start the season looking forward instead to resting and lying fallow and also anticipating new growth in the spring. Thanks for helping me frame winter more positively.
Here's to hoping we can continue viewing it positively, even as it gets colder and darker! Being still / resting / being "unproductive" is so important too.
This 4w5 is cheering you on for feeling your emotions! ;) For real though, your words about PPD and the future feeling impossibly far away–I felt that in my bones. My eldest is 14, my youngest is almost 7, and I am still sorting through how much those early years took a toll on my mental and everything else health. I'm so glad you are coming into a better season.
Lol I take the cheering! Like any good 5 I’m very good at thinking my emotions; less good at feeling them ;)
It’s really nice to have solidarity and hear your experience. It’s why I’m willing to risk judgment from people who haven’t been there to share honestly about how I’ve felt!
🧡🧡 so beautiful, Christine. (We also have some culture war candidates who made it onto our school board 😫) Feeling thankful for your words and it’s making me want to pull out my copy of wintering. And it’s also giving me a little kick in the butt to go clean up my garden beds! Lol.
Thank you, Lindsey! I just left my own enthusiastic comment on your writing from today. I enjoy this northwestern Ohio writing kinship we have! ❤️
Lol Christine I am so sorry. I’ve been investigating RT on the neurodivergent community and suicides through 12 steps cleansings & I saw your post and commented. I was so excited to see someone brave enough to talk about it, I didn’t realize your blog wasn’t neurodivergent. Could have fooled me lol! Keep up the good fight. Awareness is key to recovery no matter what knowledge you are bringing to the table. Whether it’s autistic or neurotypical, trauma is trauma. It effects us all differently. I’ve been taken advantage of by manipulative types for most my life (being undiagnosed) and it became traumatic when I had to turn to religous recovery rooms to save my life. In there it’s manipulation into a belief that takes me away from our planet and it caused me a handful of recovery stints… each time I left I fell victim to myself and recovery became harder and harder to accept. 4yrs of recovery tomorrow?!😬 Not trying to cap on any religions, but I’m an atheist that practices secular Buddhism now. If anyone ever starts to hear the word god and you get so overstimulated enough to harm yourself with or without substances, you may have experienced religious trauma. We’ve been told over and over that monotheism and god is good for us all… I know there are are other diverse people out there that have experience RT now and that gives me purpose to talk about it. I believe undiagnosed neurodivergents (that need acceptance and love) are and have been ostracized in Christian based 12 step programs since they’ve been around. Neurodivergents have a special mind and are already more prone for suicide. These days we are being targeted in these programs because the world is breaking free from RT and we’re diverse so it’s obviously our fault lol. I apologize for all that my meds help me with my selective mutism and in turn I become a blabber mouth lol. Keep up the good fight Christine and let me know if I can help in anyway