Wintering, the power of rest and solitude in difficult times - Katherine May

I really do not like the cold; it already starts in the autumn and winter. But is that not a little bit exaggerated? Why is it that I don't like the winter? (nicely said). How can I learn to deal with the winter? I discovered the book Wintering from Katherine May and decided to take some of her lessons in. Here is a summary of parts of the book (translated by myself).

What is Talitelat?

There is not really an English equivalent of this word from Finland, but it means to be stocked up or put away during wintertime. It is like putting away your summer clothes and put your winter clothes in your closet instead. It is always that sort of magical moment, when you see your clothes again, like they are new. In Finland, it is not like you just put a sweater on top of your regular (summer) clothes. The winter comes very abruptly, and you can't fool the winter.

Being unhappy is one of the common things in life. It is a clear emotion that you should cherish. That emotion learns us something. The emotion tells us that something is not right. We have to sincerely accept our sadness; otherwise, we miss an important clue to adjust to us. Our society nowadays is filled with pleads to be happy, but there is a lot of depression. We are told not to give too much attention to the negative, but at the same time we worry a lot. This is normal, but when you ignore those emotions, they will come back to us stronger. A big part of our life sucks. There will be moments of success but also moments we cannot get out of bed. Both are normal, and you need to put both in perspective.
Katherine compares winter with emotions in life; it is part of life, and listen and follow the nature.

Nature shows that surviving has to do with practice; sometimes it blooms, sometimes it needs fat layers and is full of falling leaves, and sometimes it gives honey and limits itself to the basic of life. The nature goes in cycles, all the time, forever, over and over again. To become an expert in wintering, you have to understand that life is not linear but goes in cycles. Of course, we get older (linear), we have phases of being healthy and phases of getting sick, phases of optimism and phases of doubt.

In general in Finland, they start preparing for the winter in July. Almost half a year it is minus 10 degrees; you have to be prepared for such cold. Everything needs to be done before it starts freezing, because when it does, you cannot go anywhere anymore. All repairs need to be done, you need firewood, you need winter tires for the car, you need to bake your whole freezer full, pickle your vegetables, there is a lot to do.
Katherine writes: While writing this book, I got raided by life. As if I had asked for it, winters appeared. My world got smaller. I was unable to do as much as I hoped. I was unable to be the person I wanted to be cheerful, energetic, and summary. I became depressed, I struggled, I got anxious. The only reason why I finished the book is that I recognized it, the winter. Actually I saw the winter coming and looked it straight in the eye. I welcomed it and let it be, since I learned some tricks how to deal with it.

According to Katherine the winter is part of life, face it and embrace it. Make it your own wintering time; stock up and hide...
And I thought, wow, minus 10 degrees for six months. Gosh, am I a poser?