[Seasons: Winter VII]
Winter is scary. It’s grey. It’s cold. It’s barren. Everything appears dead.
Next to the fire is cozy. The brick hearth is stable and warm. The soft chairs are comfortable.
If we spend all winter by the hearth, we’d go mad. There’s a certain craziness—stir crazy, cabin fever, various forms of immobilizing melancholy—that develop if we spend too much of the winter by the fire, afraid of going outside.
Winter is scary, and it remains that way until we step into it. We must confront it to appreciate it. We must bundle up and explore it to understand that there’s less to fear and a whole lot more to learn than we thought.
Our inner winters are the same way. We have our own hearths that are warm and safe. We’ll become unhealthy if we cling to them all winter. We must dress appropriately and step into our fears, if we have any chance of understanding them.
