It's winter, which means I arrive home around 4p or 6p or 8:30p depending on carpool needs. The point is that as soon as I arrive home on a cold/dark winter night, I immediately give up all semblance of ambition and put on my pajama pants. Gone are the days of thinking about what to do with my evening or who I'd like to hang out with: it's dark, it's cold, it's winter and following dinner at 6p, I would like to clock out and immediately insert myself into bed thankyouverymuch.
Millie the Dog appreciates my new approach to life very much, as it matches her preferences as well, and it gives her opportunity to find a warm lap several hours earlier than usual.
This month, I've given myself over completely to the pajama pants lifestyle, but am trying to find meaningful new spaces for my mind to inhabit. Enter my local public library—a shining example of property taxes well spent, alongside schools and snow removal.
I have several takeaways from my reads this month, but most notably the idea of practices comes to mind. There's a quiet hush that comes with early darkness and cold temperatures. How can I accept-revel, even-in this season of quiet?
Because I am a practitioner to the core, I made a bullet list of what practices I'd like to take on this season:
- Printing photos from my phone and putting them in actual/real life photo albums from the 1900s so we can all enjoy them
- Reading books and taking notes
- Eating more bananas and avocados: there’s something satisfying in the anticipation of waiting for them to perfectly ripen. But bananas are admittedly temperamental. I like mine spotless with a touch of green, and it seems their peak of perfection hits in the dead of night. By the time I wake up, they are ruined forever. Apparently, winter is the only time I have the patience for such temperamental fruit.
- Juicing because it makes me feel like my insides are glowing (my current fav is 2 Honeycrisp apples, 5 large carrots and 1 lemon for 2 servings)
- Trips to the library
- Family dinners (this meal plan has been saving my life)
- Painting projects around the house. I still need to fill in nail holes on trim work and then paint them, but it's just not terrible exciting.
- Watching documentaries
- Writing--just for me.
- Giving away things we don't use: I've already made several trips to Goodwill to clean out closets and cupboards and it helps me feel less anxious inside. Less stuff for the win.
- Checking this MKE event calendar more often to find new adventures.
Here's some pages I've been turning this month:
