let's take a cozy adventure

wintering | volume 7

There’s are a few words that are crucial to survive the next few months of winter. These are in our official wintering dictionary and ones that I encourage you to fully metabolize into your winter nervous system.

hurkle-durkle - a scottish phrase that means to lie in bed or lounge about when one should be up and about.
hygge - a danish word that means a quality of coziness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being
hyggelig : also a danish words that defines a feeling of openness, warmth, and friendship; a complete lack of anything irritating, uncomfortable, or emotionally overwhelming.
boketto - a japanese word that means to gaze vacantly into the distance without thinking about anything specific.

I think that it’s so interesting that so many different cultures have words for sitting and doing nothing, resting your bodies and minds, and feeling safe and comfortable. I’m not sure where you’re reading from, but in my American experience, we don’t have words for these things because we don’t value them. We value work and productivity, function and efficiency.

I struggle staying still. My husband gets so frustrated with me when he walks into the room and I apologize for sitting or immediately get up and start cleaning something. Sometimes he will physically move me back to bed, throw covers on top of me, open my laptop and start a show or throw a book on my lap and tell me not to move. Rest, to me, often feels like the hinderance to more important things. I married someone who believes that rest is the important thing. There’s a balance to be struck in our full, busy lives.

Kids have to eat. Chores need to get done. But maybe safety, comfort, and rest, are just as important.

This week, pick at least one of those words and make a new wintering practice out of it. I have a feeling it will help you feel more regulated and rested as we get through the thickest part of the cold and gray.

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in this wintering volume :

- something to do
- something to watch
- something to read
- something to think about

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art by brand montague

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something to do :

This week, we’re going to get out of the house again and deposit some serotonin into our bodies. We’re going on a little cozy adventure. First, find the closest bookstore or coffee shop. It could be one you’re familiar with, but I like looking for ones I’ve never been to before. Do a good search online, look on local reddit pages for recommendations, ask in your town facebook group. If Barnes and Noble is the closest store to you, that’s ok! But if you can find something that’s not a chain, go there. It doesn’t even have to be books. It can be coffee, tea, trinkets, crafts, anything really. The aim is cozy and inspiration. You don’t have to buy anything and it doesn’t have to take a lot of time. This is a trip for serotonin only. (Although, if a new book produces serotonin then I fully support a purchase.)

If you can’t find the time this weekend, don’t worry about it. Just add to the list of things you’d like to do at some point this winter. Instead of leaving the house, just snuggle up with a cozy blanket and watch a cozy movie. It’s always a good time for that!

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something to watch :

for the grownups :
Once
You’ve Got Mail
About Time

For the kids :
Hook
The Fox + The Hound
Hugo

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something to read :

I’m starting this one this week! The Lost Bookshop is another one for the cozy, low stakes fantasy shelf.

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something to think about :

Somehow, both times that I’ve written or posted about the word hyggelig is on the heels of spending time with a friend that is very much a hyggelig friend. I haven’t planned it that way, it’s just *kismet.*

I spent this weekend in Kansas City with my closest friend, Kasey, and it was chill, calm, cozy, effortless. We’ve been friends for so long that spending time together doesn’t feel hurried or tense. We don’t have to impress each other, or hide our quirks, or wonder how we’re being perceived. It’s a gift, but it’s a gift that we’ve earned and built and created together.

To have a friendship that’s hyggelig, you have to be hyggelig.

To be a hyggelig friend, you have to believe that friendship is a part of our created design. When you believe what Scripture says about our relationships to each other and when you build those practices into your life, you become a person that people feel safe to be in relationship with.

Loneliness is something that I’ve experienced for more of my life than I haven’t. And it’s something that might be required of us for a temporary amount of time, but we were never meant to be alone.

It isn’t good for us to be alone.
And also - it isn’t always easy to cure our isolation.

Friendship isn’t always hyggelig.
Living in community with other people is hard.
Healthy relationships aren’t created overnight.

But we are meant for it.
You are meant for it.

God created us to live alongside each other. Not in a passive, “hey how are ya” kind of way, but in intimate, relational ways that bring discomfort and joy, often in the same breath.

You were created to be with people who are happy to be with you no matter what. You were created to be the person that is happy to be with others no matter what. You were created to experience and give authentic joy to be together.

We are transformed in community, we are challenged in community, we are taken care of, we are loved, we are comforted. It’s beautiful and difficult and good.

Look through Paul’s letters in the New Testament and pay close attention to the “one another” verses. They are full of the call to be together and instructions on how to be together in healthy ways that honor the Imago Dei in ourselves and in each other.

Pay attention to the people around you. The community you’re looking for might already be around you.

I’m praying you find the God-breathed hyggelig you are meant for.

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