There is a winter The world can see The one that gathers along the edges of the earth The one that darkens the sky Long before the day has finished speaking And then there is the winter inside you The one that arrives without warning The one that asks you to move slowly More slowly than you think you are allowed to This inner winter is not a mistake It is a season of its own A quieting of the self A soft turning inward A place the body understands Long before the mind does It draws you toward yourself away from the noise Toward the places within you That have been asking for rest For far too long Here,
Nothing grows quickly Here,
The heart does not unfold on command Here,
The body softens At a pace that mirrors the land outside your window Steady,
Unhurried A quiet exhale beneath the cold The world sleeps under frost And a part of you sleeps with it These words turn toward that season Toward the part of you living through a symbolic winter The part that has felt the dark night of the soul The weight of old sadness The ache of caring too much The part that feels everything before any words can rise Winter does not ask you to bloom It asks you to gather yourself To hold your own warmth To let the cold teach you What is essential There are days when the sky feels heavy There are days when your breath hides in your chest There are days when you think you should be brighter than you are But the earth does not question its darkening It simply becomes what the season asks of it So let yourself become what this season asks of you Let the darker months be a home For the feelings that have waited too long Let rest be a form of healing Not a loss of momentum If you are a soul who feels deeply If you absorb the world through the thin membranes of the heart Winter is not your enemy It is your teacher It shows you where your energy gathers And where it slips away It shows you the quiet truths you have avoided naming It shows you the places in you That are still learning how to trust the light When it returns This season inside you will not last forever But while it is here Let it soften you in the right ways Let it ask its questions Let it show you how to hold warmth that comes from within Instead of reaching outward For what the world cannot give The winter outside will pass The winter inside you will shift too Not because you forced it But because you allowed it And when the thaw comes In the land or in your chest You will rise differently Not brighter Not stronger But truer More whole More yourself
