The holiday letdown is officially here. Every year, I get excited about Christmas, then about New Year’s, then about my birthday (which is just after the year begins), and then… poof! It’s all over. I know I’m supposed to be excited about all the new things I’m going to do this year and the resolutions I hope will improve my life (Eat better! Spend less!), but the truth is that after all the excitement, all I want to do is sit on my couch and hide from the world for a while.
I know we’re supposed to count every day—even gray January days—as a blessing, and I do. But sometimes, doesn’t it seem like a challenge? Without the white lights and the holly boughs, winter can just seem dreary.
In An Abundance of Blessings, the sixth book in the Home to Heather Creek series, the characters are also struggling to deal with the bleak days of January, especially the kids, who have never lived surrounded by snow before. They learn to deal with it in their own ways, but working on these books, I’ve learned something too: the world is designed in cycles. There’s a time to sow, and a time to reap; a time to weep and a time to laugh. There’s glorious, warm summer, and there’s restful, quiet winter. Maybe, I’ve started to realize, it’s okay to feel a little sad and want to hibernate at this time of year. Maybe that’s part of how I’m supposed to feel.
That’s not to say that I’m giving myself free license to get lazy or skip work or anything, but this year I’m going to try to be nice to myself. Instead of rushing around trying to get a million things done, maybe it’s okay to just rest for a bit. Instead of feeling bad that all I want to do is sit and read, maybe I’ll let myself sit and read in the evenings. Maybe it’s okay to take to just be, and to enjoy the blessing of a new year and whole new start for us all.
Beth Adams is the creator and editor of GUIDEPOSTS’ Home to Heather Creek fiction series.
