Inspiration for dark winter days
Over the weekend, the clock went back one hour. We are officially in the darkest period of our year. For most of us, we are like bears in pursuit of hibernation: bed socks and fleece blankets, hot chocolate, fires blazing and screen-time. We feel justified doing this: it’s cold, dreary, damp and horrible out. We’re tired and run-down. And then, around the month of March, we emerge from our cave and wake up to possibility. Every year rolls by a little bit like the previous year. No harm, we think, we are in survival mode right now.
Wouldn’t it be nice though to find inspiration in the dark, dreary days rather than curl up and veg. Life has a cycle, its ups and downs, its round abouts, and the dark days, they too can be moments of growth, insight and discovery.
I remember listening to an interview where they talked of how the dips of life can bring out the most beautiful insights into someone’s life and a greater understanding of the meaning of life. The greatest authors, artists and saints shared the best of themselves to us in moments of perhaps greater turmoil and difficulty. Nature’s cycle too is a helpful catalyst to discover aspects of ourselves that we may not discover if all was the same - sunny and fresh, beaches and BBQs.
The dark winter months can help us deepen in self-discovery and growth. They can help us to slow down, to ponder, to reflect on life’s experiences. Of all the ways to help us in this self-discovery, I would have to say literature is a wonderful vehicle to get there. Literature is possibly the most helpful medium to teach us to reflect. Unfortunately it has to be said that technology has fed our habit for instant gratification in a disproportionate way. We find it hard to sit and read for a couple of minutes without grabbing our phone to check for any messages. We long for the quick dopamine hit.
If you and I are willing to sit in a room without any devices and read a novel, we will learn quite a bit about ourselves and our world. If you haven’t done this in a while, it’s going to be hard but it’s worth persevering. The heart and soul needs time to breathe calmly and reading can help this. Reading will unlock worlds so different and yet so familiar. There is a welcome realisation that none of us is truly alone in our quest for greater meaning and genuine relationships. Others have gone before us.
Descartes famously said: “The reading of all good books is like conversation with the finest (people) of the past centuries.”
There are oodles of books available to us. Books are a bit like places to eat: some are fast food joints and others are awarded the Michelin star for a reason. Never Let Me Go (Isiguro Kazuho), Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China (Jung Chang), Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy), Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen), Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis (J.D. Vance), The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde), To Kill a Mocking Bird (Harper Lee) and last but not least, Embers (Sandor Marai). These, like many other books, pull you out of yourself into another world. There is nothing more restful than being in a world that is not your own, even for a couple of minutes.
Dark evenings are a lovely opportunity to spend time in other worlds.
Benjamin Franklin said that, “the person who deserves most pity is a lonesome one on a rainy day who doesn’t know how to read”.
Let’s be that person who does know how to read and to read well.