Well, just like that another year has just about breezed by. Winter Solstice is right around the corner and thank goodness – I’m already begging for more daylight! It’s a very busy time of year for many people, but for our family winter signifies rest. In winter we spend the majority of our time with our most valued things – without the distraction of a busy schedule! For us that is family, friends, education, and wellness. We participate in these things all year, but there are more things going on in summer that pull us all different directions and sometimes we can find ourselves a bit too full and distracted away from what matters. Thanks to a tradition we created 3 years ago, we’re rolling into this winter feeling well, relaxed, and open to that which really matters.
Have you heard of high school students who graduate and take a gap year before starting college? A gap year gives these young people time to rest, rejuvenate, focus on health and wellness and oftentimes traveling and experiencing new opportunities is part of this. It’s about growth and positive change to prepare for the next phase of life.
I love this idea of a gap year. How about a gap month? Or even a gap week? A few years I discovered how I could implement a sort of gap into my own life, for our whole family. An area I needed the gap the most was at the end of growing season. Growing season is hectic for any homesteader. The growing, the weeding, the harvesting, the putting up of food, the cleaning up of the garden and in the meantime, other summer projects and projects we need to complete each year before winter. In the far north here we have less season to do things in good weather, such as preparing the woodpile for winter and any other outdoor projects. Any extra days at the end of the growing season that we can work outside, we will. It often feels a like a race to wrap everything up for winter and it happens after our busy season when we are most tired. It used to be stressful, but we’re finding ways to minimize the load so that we aren’t in an end of season frenzy (which in the first years was mostly due to being new at homesteading and also making choices that left us having more responsibility than we could balance in our schedules).
It’s especially hard to turn the busy off when you work where you live and you can find work and projects everywhere you look. There isn’t a switch to turn off busy. Or is there? Several years ago we planned a week long getaway not too far from home to take place after growing season. I clearly remember feeling stressed about the deadline for the work to be done. But really, the work is never done on a homestead, so choices need to be made – insert the gap. We left the homestead, took a week away, and when we came back it was like having a complete reset. Removing ourselves from the homestead for a brief time was enough to distract from that “work is never over and therefore I will overwork” unhealthy mindset and behavior. We had time to decompress, experience new things, and be a little out of our element – and wouldn’t you know, it was invigorating and liberating! We came back reset and ready to work, but also approaching homestead life in a new slower going perspective. We fed our souls in this gap. Homesteading does this for us too, but like anything, too much of a good thing can turn unpleasant because it becomes too much.
After that first trip, it was very obvious to me that I needed to build in a gap. The gap helped me reset so that I could find balance and so that I could honor myself, my family, and the rest we need to thrive. And not just the reset from that one week, but enough of a reset that due to the first gap go around I began to learn the importance of rest during all seasons.
My end of growing season gap now extends beyond a week. With purposeful choices I spent nearly a month reseting. Seeing friends, going new places, finding more time for books and making a nest for myself on the couch. I’m learning that I do best when I dabble in microgaps every day – no matter the season. I’m on my third year of end of gardening season gap and it had been so impactful in my choices in how to experience life that at the end of gardening season I’m not feeling chaotic, stressed, and overwhelmed (don’t get me wrong, this isn’t fully eliminated, some is always inevitable). I prepare for the gap feeling excited for the upcoming time (rather than stressed out about being prepared for it). It’s a little dangling carrot that I look forward to and it brings me joy thinking about it (and even more joy being in the gap).
Gap recommendations: hike a new local place each day, clear out your book stash and deliver them to little free libraries near you (permission to grab a few good books if you see them), take a vacation – it doesn’t need to be far!, meet up with a friend you haven’t seen in a while, spend a week preparing new, unique foods from different cultures, pick a topic to learn something new about and create a cozy space to do your learning. Remember – the gap isn’t about making a project out of something (we don’t need more projects!), it’s about FEEDING YOUR SOUL and giving yourself a RESET.
This year’s gap for me included a visit to new places, reading “breezy” books (you know, the kind that don’t make you think too hard), playing games at the kitchen table with my family, taking longer walks for health, and meeting up with friends I haven’t seen in a while. My heart feels full and my soul rested. I am a better version of myself because of it. A few highlights in the photos below. You’ll see that for me my gap is very nature oriented (Vitamin N – Nature, provides its own dose of soul wellness!).
Is there a time of year you need a gap? What drives your need to have a reset (and could you make any small changes to ease up on this)? What will you do you in your gap (message me, I’d love to hear!)? A gap doesn’t need to be extreme (does anything?!), it just needs to be time doing something different and something that brings joy.
Solstice is just a few days away meaning the longest night is just ahead of us – the darkness in this season is a reminder that there is always light ahead.
Season’s Greetings,
-L
whiteskywoods.com 