“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” Lao Tzu
When the holidays end, we rush to fill the quiet with to-do lists and resolutions. We convince ourselves this is the moment to do better, be better.
January arrives with instructions.
Set goals. Start fresh. Decide who you’ll become.
But outside, the earth is doing the opposite.
The ground is frozen. Trees are bare. Seeds are not pushing upward. Nothing is hustling toward growth. Life is still here, but it has gone underground.
We forget that growth depends on rest. That becoming requires dormancy. That even creation takes a season where nothing visible happens.
January asks us to sprint while everything around us is sleeping.
What if we listened instead?
What if this month is not for clarity, discipline, or reinvention, but for conservation? For staying close to what is essential?
The earth does not set intentions in winter.
It does not optimize.
It does not force what comes next.
It waits.
Rest is not quitting or falling behind. It is choosing to live in step with the season you’re actually in.
Spring will arrive without our spreadsheets.
For now, the most faithful thing we can do is let the ground stay frozen and let ourselves rest too.
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