leaning into the liminal

wintering | volume 5

And so, we’ve entered the space between Christmas and the New Year. Unless you celebrate the 12 days of Christmas or Epiphany, you’re living in the liminal. We’re running out of things to look forward to and this is usually about the time seasonal depression begins to creep in. Now, I said that to someone once and she said, “But that might not be true! Just because it’s happened in the past doesn’t mean it’ll happen again. You’re in such a better place now!” And I do understand that mindset. It’s the resistance to prematurely resign ourselves to sadness. What if it’s ok this time?

It might be.

But an awareness of patterns helps us prepare. When it comes to mental health, preparation can save your life. When you acknowledge it and say to yourself, “I get sad this time of year,” it puts a note in your brain that this sadness isn’t normal. This isn’t just how you are. Depression makes you believe that you have always felt as terrible as you feel now. Acknowledgement actually helps you resist the resignation to sadness. It gives you more of a will to fight. It reminds you that you’ll see Spring again.

If seasonal sadness is part of your wintering experience, I want to give you a few reminders to help you protect your mind from even more lies this winter -

1. Your faith isn’t weaker than anyone else’s, the chemicals in your brain are just different. That’s not your fault, your sin, or a sign of God’s lack of love for you. Your physiology is different. It’s genetic, not spiritual.

2. The practices that we talk about in these emails do help, but there are days when you just won’t have the energy to do anything and that’s ok. Try again tomorrow.

3. When you read other people’s simplistic solutions to seasonal depression, instead of believing that something is wrong with you if those things haven’t worked for you, say, “This does not apply to me.” and let it go.

4. This might not be the right time to look back on your year and set goals for next year. You can do that any time throughout the year. It might be wiser for you to reflect at the end of each day. What was good today? What was hard? What do you hope tomorrow will be? What little change can you make to make tomorrow better than today?

5. The kind of hope that is sourced in Christ doesn’t bypass your humanity or deny your reality. It tells the truth : this is the way things are, this is the way I feel, this is what’s hard and…. I’m loved right now, I’m valuable right now, I’m held right now. The hope of Christ isn’t just that one day things will be right or better, it’s that he’s with us right now, when they aren’t.

You can get through this. And you will. You’ll see another Spring.

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In this volume of wintering :

+ something to do
+ something to eat
+ something to read
+ something to watch
+ winter where you are

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art is from “The Four Seasons of Brambly Hedge” by Jill Barklem

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something to do :
Let’s keep activities low energy this week. After so much doing and going, it’s nice to have things to “do” that don’t require much. Adult coloring falls nicely into that category. A lot of adult coloring books have really intricate details, like mandalas or tiny patterns. Those are the opposite of stress relief for me. They give me stress. I get so overwhelmed by all the details, but I really like these coloring books and I use these markers.

Give it a try and share your pages in the wintering discord!

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something to eat :
We are very sick this week, and have been for a few weeks now. I’m the last one down and this is all that I’ve been craving. This was a new recipe to me, and is now the only way I’ll make Louisiana rice and beans from now on. Hits. Every. Spot.

Louisiana Red Beans + Rice

Ingredients :

▢1 pound dried kidney beans
▢½ pound thick cut bacon (diced)
▢1 pound andouille or smoked sausage (sliced)
▢1 ½ cups diced onions (about 2 medium onions)
▢1 cup diced celery (2-3 stalks)
▢1 cup diced green bell pepper (1 large bell pepper)
▢4 cloves garlic (minced)
▢10 cups chicken stock
▢¼-½ pound smoked ham (diced)
▢2 teaspoons dried oregano
▢1 teaspoon dried thyme
▢½ teaspoon black pepper (or to taste)
▢½ cup thinly sliced green onion shoots (divided)
▢¼ cup finely chopped fresh parsley (divided)
▢3 bay leaves
▢Cajun seasoning to taste
▢long grain white rice ( for serving)

Instructions :

• SOAK: The night before you want to cook, sort through beans and remove any stones. Add dry beans to a large bowl and cover with cold water by a few inches. Soak beans overnight. Before cooking, drain and rinse beans.

• SEAR: Heat a large pot over medium heat. Cook chopped bacon until pieces are mostly crispy, about 10-15 min. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Reserve some of the bacon grease in the pot. Sear sausage until browned on both sides, about 5-10 minutes. You may have to do this in 2 batches so it can brown properly. Set aside with the bacon.

• SAUTÉ: Add onions, celery, and bell pepper and sauté while stirring until onions are translucent and starting to caramelize, about 8-10 minutes. Scrape up fond (browned bits on the bottom of the pot) as you go. Add garlic and cook until fragrant while stirring, about 1 minute more.

• SIMMER: Add bacon and sausage back to the pot along with beans, chicken stock, ham, dried oregano, dried thyme, black pepper, half the parsley, and half the green onions. Stir to combine and add bay leaves. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook uncovered for about 2 hours until beans are tender, and liquid has reduced to desired thickness. Skim off any foam that arises to the top. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking.

• SMASH: If you like thicker beans, smash some of the beans against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon to thicken. Remove bay leaves.

• SEASON: Stir in the remaining green onions and parsley. Taste the beans and add cajun seasoning or salt and pepper as needed.

• SERVE: Remove bay leaves and discard. Serve over rice topped with green onions and parsley. Top with hot sauce for heat. Add a dash of red wine vinegar or pickled onions for acidic balance.

recipe via Lauren From Scratch

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something to read :

I have another low-stakes cozy fantasy book for you, but I haven’t read this one yet! I thought it might be fun to do a wintering book club and read this together. We can discuss in the discord!

We’ll read The Spellshop. So many of you messaged me and recommended this and I see it all over booktok and bookstagram, so let’s read it together!

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something to watch :

for the grownups :
Stardust
Tolkien

for the kids :
Wolfwalkers
City of Ember

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winter where you are :
this portion of the wintering newsletter is reader submitted. I love seeing where you winter!

Follow Amelia on instagram : @azure.valleys or substack : azurevalleys.substack.com

I live in Southern California with my parents (I’m single and 22) so it’s easy for winter to feel exactly the same as the rest of the year. The temperature drops *maybe* to 45. If I want to see snow it’s a two hour drive (if it snows), while the beach is 20 minutes away from me. I know this is probably a lot of people’s ideal situation, and there’s a lot I appreciate about it! But I have to be intentionally leaning into the season in a different way in order for it to feel like my life isn’t just blurring together.

For me, leaning into it means drinking tea, making soup (I LOVE BAKED POTATO SOUP and my friends say I’m an expert), attempting to learn how to knit, and watching cozy movies by the fireplace. And reading!! This year I’m planning to reread Harry Potter again (obviously). I have, in my opinion, the perfect cozy season watch-list but I’m still working on my reading list. I love having friends over for seasonal parties (but also am always crazy stressed that no one will want to show up). This October I had a girls autumn craft night painting pumpkins and baking apple treats with just a few friends! I’m hoping to do a similar Christmas craft night this December. I know it’s such a busy time of year for everyone and I’m especially grateful to live with my family during the holiday season, but if I don’t see my friends often enough I get *sad*. (I guess that’s my version of seasonal depression because I know I get plenty of sunshine.)

I’ve learned how to make a homemade chai latte for myself each morning, then on my way to work I dab just a drop of a holiday essential oil and listen to Christmas music. I want to experience cozy season with all my senses, and while the sight of snow would literally take a miracle, I pretty much have my other bases covered.

A major plus to living in Southern California—a lot of things people travel for are on my doorstep. I’m going with a friend and my sister to the Warner Brothers Studio Lot tour to see Stars Hollow!! My sister works at Disneyland and is getting my family into the park during Christmas time!! My family will probably drive to the mountains at least once after the snow starts falling!! I’m still dreaming of a white Christmas (someday), but ice skating at the beach is pretty cool too.

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coming up »
+ friday : extra cup of wintering (paid subscribers) - Creating a Winter Nest
+ monday : volume six - The Lewis of it All

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