I wish I'd come across this post sooner as you've captured so much of what I've been thinking and feeling but struggling to articulate. This transition has always been one of the easier ones for me, but in recent years that's changed. I think because my health isn't what it once was, and it seems as though it's going to take more time than I'd anticipated to recover from this last pregnancy and some of the demands it's placed on me, physically and emotionally. Winterspring feels like my inner season as well as the outer season!
Ah Sarah, I’m glad it has found you now, I still feel very much in the thick of winterspring despite writing this a few weeks ago. I am glad my thoughts spoke to you and yes I do wonder if it seems harder as it feels like an internal state we are inhabiting too. It is the transition before the transition and is bound to be tiring. I have found that naming it has been helpful for me. Yes it takes a very long time to recover from birthing, officially at least two years I believe and to be honest I think it could be longer, especially with additional demands and not feeling well. Be gentle with yourself, spring will come xx
Winterspring - I’m in total love. In Swedish we actually say vårwinter (spring-winter), but I’ve never thought about thinking about it in English. Hehe. 🫶🏻
Oh I love that there is an actual Swedish word for this time. It feels as though the Scandinavian languages have grasped the state of liminality and all of the beauty/discomfort that can be found in-between. I always love the Norwegian word 'Romjul' for that magical time between Christmas and New Year. Hope we can coin 'winterspring' as a real thing in English too! xx
Wow Lyndsay, this piece is truly and profoundly beautiful. It encapsulates a feeling and experience that I believe so many of us struggle to pinpoint. And I so agree, this is perhaps the most challenging of seasonal transitions as we shift up a gear. But it’s also not a linear path and I feel so seen and validated by that 🤍
The other day, the sun was shining and my daughter and I ventured to the park without coats. Within 30 seconds of her being in the swing, the heavens opened and we trudged home soaked through. Just an example of the ‘start stop start’ nature of this period and that we need to be gentle with ourselves as well as not getting too carried away!
Ah thank you so much for reading Kerri, I am so glad my words about the experience of this time spoke to you. Yes, it does feel more easeful when we soften to the experience of the very gently unfurling spiral rather than linear path.
Oh yes, your experience with your daughter in the park feels very familiar to me and a great example of the back and forth of this time. In fact, just writing this message now I have witnessed spring sunshine and a downpour of icy hail all at once.
Haha I'm feeling all the yellows at the moment! xx
Love this idea of Winterspring, the perfect way to describe this time of year. I'm enjoying seeing the pops of colour of the daffodils, primroses and hyacinth around the bottom of my apple tree as I look out into the garden - mostly through the rain! I love how you describe Winterspring as 'a slow, gentle wake up' - makes me feel like there's no rush and it's OK to take time and adjust after the darkness of winter. X
Thank you for reading Jenna. Yes, the glimpses of colour in the garden and out and about are so lovely, your spring flowers and apple tree scene sounds beautiful! Yes I am glad you felt that, I was feeling an underlying pressure to get going on things now we are in the realms of spring but there is no rush and we have time to adjust xx
It does look lovely, reminds me that I should plant more bulbs there for next year for even more colour! It'll look even nicer once the apple tree starts blossoming too, won't be long. Yes exactly, always better to take things at our own pace, it feels hard to step away from the noise, but good when we do.
Love this reflection... and also the cocoon like captures of your house. I struggle with the transition to get ‘out there’ as much as I long for it, breaking the threshold into visibility is challenging. ❤️
Thank you Bridget. I know this feeling to you are speaking to so well and am experiencing that back and forth of emerging and cocooning in some of the time I have now. My dream is always to continue in the cocoon in the precious time I have on my own and it feels like I really need to uplevel my energy to get 'out there', but find that sometimes if I do, even to meet a friend for a catch up, I enjoy the cocoon time even more xx
Love the muddle of winterspring Lyndsay. Too cold for short sleeves. Too warm for woolies. It's a confusing time of year that I'm guilty of wanting to hurry up into more predictable weather. But since I moved from Brighton to the middle of a field in Somerset over 10 years ago the weather is anything but predictable and I live on the edge daily! Sometimes I long for pavements and artificial light and central heating and air conditioning, but mostly I love living much closer to the elements.
Ah thank you for reading Ali and YES that is exactly it. It seems too warm for my winter coat the past day or two but I definitely still need my hat! Yes it is confusing and I feel that urge for some more consistently fine weather too by this point, but I am trying to rest back into knowing that this to-ing and fro-ing is all part of the transition! Oh wow, yes I can imagine the extremes of weather in deepest Somerset and the challenges/wonder that come with that. How magical, there must be so many shifts living within the wild! xx
There are extremes because we live in a weird micro-climate. there can be freezing fog in pockets down here on the moor, then I drive up the hill to my daughter's school and it is bright sunshine. Your publication has given me inspiration to include more photographs on here Lyndsay, to share the magic of this place (and my partner is an interiors photographer so I really love your focus on the inside spaces too!) xx
Wow, how amazing and yet confusing at the same time. I am so delighted to hear that you are thinking of including some more imagery, I would LOVE to see this magical place in which you dwell! And ah that's wonderful, I have worked a lot with interiors photographers in my interiors PR career xx
I wish I'd come across this post sooner as you've captured so much of what I've been thinking and feeling but struggling to articulate. This transition has always been one of the easier ones for me, but in recent years that's changed. I think because my health isn't what it once was, and it seems as though it's going to take more time than I'd anticipated to recover from this last pregnancy and some of the demands it's placed on me, physically and emotionally. Winterspring feels like my inner season as well as the outer season!
Ah Sarah, I’m glad it has found you now, I still feel very much in the thick of winterspring despite writing this a few weeks ago. I am glad my thoughts spoke to you and yes I do wonder if it seems harder as it feels like an internal state we are inhabiting too. It is the transition before the transition and is bound to be tiring. I have found that naming it has been helpful for me. Yes it takes a very long time to recover from birthing, officially at least two years I believe and to be honest I think it could be longer, especially with additional demands and not feeling well. Be gentle with yourself, spring will come xx
Winterspring - I’m in total love. In Swedish we actually say vårwinter (spring-winter), but I’ve never thought about thinking about it in English. Hehe. 🫶🏻
Oh I love that there is an actual Swedish word for this time. It feels as though the Scandinavian languages have grasped the state of liminality and all of the beauty/discomfort that can be found in-between. I always love the Norwegian word 'Romjul' for that magical time between Christmas and New Year. Hope we can coin 'winterspring' as a real thing in English too! xx
I says we declare it a word right now! xo
Wow Lyndsay, this piece is truly and profoundly beautiful. It encapsulates a feeling and experience that I believe so many of us struggle to pinpoint. And I so agree, this is perhaps the most challenging of seasonal transitions as we shift up a gear. But it’s also not a linear path and I feel so seen and validated by that 🤍
The other day, the sun was shining and my daughter and I ventured to the park without coats. Within 30 seconds of her being in the swing, the heavens opened and we trudged home soaked through. Just an example of the ‘start stop start’ nature of this period and that we need to be gentle with ourselves as well as not getting too carried away!
P.s the sherbet lemon to molten gold… just epic ✨
Ah thank you so much for reading Kerri, I am so glad my words about the experience of this time spoke to you. Yes, it does feel more easeful when we soften to the experience of the very gently unfurling spiral rather than linear path.
Oh yes, your experience with your daughter in the park feels very familiar to me and a great example of the back and forth of this time. In fact, just writing this message now I have witnessed spring sunshine and a downpour of icy hail all at once.
Haha I'm feeling all the yellows at the moment! xx
Love this idea of Winterspring, the perfect way to describe this time of year. I'm enjoying seeing the pops of colour of the daffodils, primroses and hyacinth around the bottom of my apple tree as I look out into the garden - mostly through the rain! I love how you describe Winterspring as 'a slow, gentle wake up' - makes me feel like there's no rush and it's OK to take time and adjust after the darkness of winter. X
Thank you for reading Jenna. Yes, the glimpses of colour in the garden and out and about are so lovely, your spring flowers and apple tree scene sounds beautiful! Yes I am glad you felt that, I was feeling an underlying pressure to get going on things now we are in the realms of spring but there is no rush and we have time to adjust xx
It does look lovely, reminds me that I should plant more bulbs there for next year for even more colour! It'll look even nicer once the apple tree starts blossoming too, won't be long. Yes exactly, always better to take things at our own pace, it feels hard to step away from the noise, but good when we do.
"the somersault of momentum"
Ahhh yes that's how it feels in my body! Thank you for reading Elena xx
Love this reflection... and also the cocoon like captures of your house. I struggle with the transition to get ‘out there’ as much as I long for it, breaking the threshold into visibility is challenging. ❤️
Thank you Bridget. I know this feeling to you are speaking to so well and am experiencing that back and forth of emerging and cocooning in some of the time I have now. My dream is always to continue in the cocoon in the precious time I have on my own and it feels like I really need to uplevel my energy to get 'out there', but find that sometimes if I do, even to meet a friend for a catch up, I enjoy the cocoon time even more xx
Love the muddle of winterspring Lyndsay. Too cold for short sleeves. Too warm for woolies. It's a confusing time of year that I'm guilty of wanting to hurry up into more predictable weather. But since I moved from Brighton to the middle of a field in Somerset over 10 years ago the weather is anything but predictable and I live on the edge daily! Sometimes I long for pavements and artificial light and central heating and air conditioning, but mostly I love living much closer to the elements.
Ah thank you for reading Ali and YES that is exactly it. It seems too warm for my winter coat the past day or two but I definitely still need my hat! Yes it is confusing and I feel that urge for some more consistently fine weather too by this point, but I am trying to rest back into knowing that this to-ing and fro-ing is all part of the transition! Oh wow, yes I can imagine the extremes of weather in deepest Somerset and the challenges/wonder that come with that. How magical, there must be so many shifts living within the wild! xx
There are extremes because we live in a weird micro-climate. there can be freezing fog in pockets down here on the moor, then I drive up the hill to my daughter's school and it is bright sunshine. Your publication has given me inspiration to include more photographs on here Lyndsay, to share the magic of this place (and my partner is an interiors photographer so I really love your focus on the inside spaces too!) xx
Wow, how amazing and yet confusing at the same time. I am so delighted to hear that you are thinking of including some more imagery, I would LOVE to see this magical place in which you dwell! And ah that's wonderful, I have worked a lot with interiors photographers in my interiors PR career xx
Winterspring... that's it... that's exactly where I am right now too!
Oh I’m pleased to hear that this is an actual thing and not just me! It feels very much my state of being as well as what is unfolding outside…xx