Phil and I

Puxatawny Phil and I have more in common right now than I would like to admit. 

I didn’t even see my shadow a month ago, but I seem to have run back down into my hole to wait out the remainder of winter. 

Yes, I have been getting out every day. Into the elements, good and bad. 

Yes, I have literally and figuratively been breathing the fresh air of season. I have gone skiing.  I dabbled in snowshoeing. I am enjoying long walks with friends in the woods. 

I would like to tell you I am doing great, thriving, excelling, “rockin it” and all those other affirmations, but here is the truth. 

I have been very messy lately.

I am trudging through winter as best I can. 

I feel like I am just surviving. 

We have ALL been living a bit of a ground hog year, and for me, winter has exaggerated this monotony more than the other seasons. 

White and grey and black homogenize the outside world.  Mundane tasks, same activities and limited social time threaten to homogenize my heart and soul.

In the wake of a year of social distancing and constrained activities, I am starting to wither a bit. 

You might be, too. 

And that is not only understandable, but also perfectly OK. 

When I look at the bigger picture… what we all have been through, the various ways to navigate this new and VERY weird world, the multitude of changes to our social and personal lives… I realize surviving IS thriving! 

And isn’t that what most of the woodland animals do?  They survive the winter.

Isn’t that a form of thriving? 

Last week, I felt like a bear preparing for hibernation. I just wanted to eat and sleep. 

I am growing tired of the winter walks.  Tired of the cold. Tired of the snow. 

Yet even in that tiredness, I get myself out to the woods. I look for the new sight or sound, the signs of animal life and the special beauty that only winter can bring. 

I start by surviving and take tiny steps toward thriving. 

And like Puxatawny Phil and the bear, I await the arrival of spring.