Hello darkness my old friend

Fall a little more in love with the lesser seasons

A wild thing happens at about 3:43 p.m. in November.

It involves two diverging thoughts.

Thought 1:

my goodness the light is sooo pretty through the trees. ahhhh.

Thought 2:

OH MY GOD IN ABOUT 12.7 SECONDS IT WILL BE pItCH DaRk! HURRY get everything DONE.

I honestly do not mind the pitch dark, once it sets in. But there is a sheer terror moment in which it occurs to me that (like life) the day is rushing up to its conclusion, much sooner than I expected, or might prefer.

This is the time of year — now that “spooky season” has receded — that folks like to bitch and moan about the lack of light. I know there are good reasons to be SAD (see what I did there?) but over the years I have come to see autumn not just as a time to love the cooler weather and colors, but as a time to fall in love with the darker season, and the slowing down.

Yes. Well. The slowing down may not be obvious at first — especially since the holidays love to smack us in the face with ads, music, consumerism and expectations.

But it’s all that swirl of *stuff* that actually has caused me to lean into slower mornings, knitting, time at home, coffee with friends, and the deep urge to hygge the heck out of these darker days.

I may not be able to convince you — maybe seasonal depression just hits you too hard, or you just love the beach days too much.

I get that.

Don’t Panic Over November

But if you, too, are in for the winter in these northern climes, I hope I can convince you to fall a little more in love with the lesser seasons. Here’s a few things that I love as the days grow shorter:

• Hiking is much nicer now. No bugs.

• Go out and enjoy the good light shows for the holidays. You can walk through or just drive around neighborhoods. Bring a friend.

• Visit an old cemetery.

• Volunteer to walk dogs or pet cats at the pet shelter.

• Add an app like Opal or Jomo to your phone that limits your screen time and yucky app time.

• Take up a craft like collage or watercolor or knitting — especially if it has a group in town where you can join others. Our local fiber shop — Unwind Fiber Arts — has no less than FOUR social groups per week that are free.

• Make a coffee date or two a week a part of your winter plans. Facetime with friends over a warm beverage at a local cafe is a win all around.

• Make a short list of the neighbors who might need help with snow removal. Maybe stop by before the snow flies and ask them if they’d like some help!

• Plan a winter get away, even if it’s a roadtrip to visit a friend. It doesn’t have to be fancy. If in the U.S., I recommend Arizona, or maybe Savannah, Georgia — nice places to get out and get away from the snow. Magical.

• Make a bucket list. Even better, make that bucket list with a friend or partner, and put it up on poster board, decorate and display it!

• Call people on the phone. In that long dark hour before dinner — when folks are cooking, call and cook on the phone together!

• Go listen to live music.

I have about 100 more. Do you have more to suggest? Drop them in the comments.