Holding the magic of winter

This Creative Life #01: gathering our creative energy with the power of 'hygge'

This week marks the launch of a new guest series. Say hello to This Creative Life.

While it's been a fixture on my branding studio journal for the past year, I've decided to “relocate” the articles and spotlight the contributors here on Substack because I know their words will resonate and offer incredible value.

The series is about creative living, working and playing, and I’m delighted to be sharing posts from

Anna Dunleavy

on the benefits of vision boarding,

Lindsay Johnstone

on nurturing your inner writer and

Sasha Nadine

on discomfort and visibility.

This move is partly driven by a need for more space in my life and work; slower and better, not harder and faster. And with most of the content ready and waiting to be published (besides the occasional new feature), it feels like a wise way to support my bandwidth.

My aversion to the word busy may now cause my chest to tighten—especially now life is full of deadlines and demands—but I used to wear that word like a mark of pride. Nowadays, I remind myself that success hinges less on doing and more on being.

But this dance between fulfilment and sacrifice is one I struggle with. I enjoy the variety of my design work, and exploring side projects brings me freedom, but is it truly freedom when I’m teetering around the edges of my capacity?

Today, I’m delighted to welcome my first guest,

Kolina Cicero

of

Words on Words

, as we ponder the question: how can we hold the magic of winter for a while longer and gather our creative energy for new beginnings?

Even with the promise of brighter days, I find myself grounded in the current season, not quite ready to let go of the comfort of wrapping myself in a soft blanket, sipping a warming hot chocolate and typing by the glow of a scented candle.

Winter is here for two more weeks (in the astronomical calendar, at least), so you might like to make a warm drink and join us as we delve into the themes of winter and hygge, the rhythms of which encourage us to weave contentment and simplicity into the very fabric of our days. After all, true freedom doesn't lie in accomplishing more but in appreciating more.

I’ll hand you over to Kolina, a writer from the northern reaches of the United States who has found a sense of peace and purpose within the season of winter and the concept of hygge. She is a writer of fiction and author of the indie-published children’s book, Rosie and the Hobby Farm. Here, Kolina shows us how we can find a sense of calm in all that is cosy.

“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”

― Annie Dillard

The ethereality of hygge + wintering 
with Kolina Cicero

I live in a place where winter rages for nearly half the year; where we drink coffee out of mugs that say Keep the North Cold and purchase cords of wood to keep our fireplace ablaze until springtime. To me, winter is spellbinding. During winter, if I want to sleep in, the cold gusts battering my window whisper their approval: it is time to regain my balance. It is encouraged to curl up with a book in the early evening rather than do all the things, be all the people, wear all the hats.

Winter is our permission to rest and repair.

I haven’t always been fond of winter. When I was younger, I battled a complex distaste for autumn – which is my favourite season – because I feared what came after it. Winter for me used to be an oppressive time, a time when my car was never warm enough, my boots were never waterproof enough, my coat was never long enough. It was a time in which I let the lack of sunlight, and lack of activities, propel me into a lack of interest. I endured winter; I did not enjoy winter.

Then I had a child.

I watched my daughter light up at the glittery landscape all around us; at the sensation of standing outside, faces craned up toward the sky as snow plummeted on our eyes, our tongues. We live in a real-life snow globe! Winter, I came to realise, is as close to magic as humans can get. And no small part of that magic is the collective embrace of all that is cosy; all that is restful. Many call it hygge, the Danish word for enjoying the good things in life.

This time of year, as author

Katherine May

says in her unforgettable book Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times, is about transformation. Bears enter a state of torpor, or a light sleep, for the cold months – and so should we. This time is for resting up and conserving our energy in preparation for the racket that is summertime.

There is an ethereal beauty to hygge that is only accessible by experiencing it yourself, by letting go, having another cup of hot cocoa, resting a little more; indulging in the small joys of candlelit dinners and an oversized sweater – all of it enjoyed with loved ones.

Whether it’s hygge or wintering or another word for embracing these shorter, darker, colder days, the sentiment is the same: this is our time to rest and enjoy the small delights of love; of living.

I will leave you with a quote from Katherine May that exemplifies everything winter offers us:

“We have seasons when we flourish and seasons when the leaves fall from us, revealing our bare bones. Given time, they grow again.”

We need energy to blossom come springtime, and winter is the time to collect that much-needed fuel.

Thank you, Kolina, for sharing the beauty of your winter with us.

What can these words inspire us to do as we tiptoe into the spring? I’d love to add some warm lighting to my cosy nook in the lounge or sweeten my creative practice with new rituals. It’s certainly got me thinking about more fully embodying the hygge philosophy of enjoying more comfort in the everyday.

You might like to read Kolina’s post about Wintering and its capacity to heal:

We have seasons when we flourish and seasons when the leaves fall from us, revealing our bare bones. Given time, they grow again. ― Katherine May

And if you’re still in the mood for ‘Wintering’ you can tune into this warming playlist:

How might the concept of hygge support you in gathering your energy?

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