Last day to enter my THANK YOU contest & a few of my favorite winter solstice quotes.
Today is the winter solstice - the longest night of the year (in the Northern Hemisphere)
Humans have marked this day for thousands of years, not because things were “manifesting,” but because they understood something we’ve largely forgotten:
Darkness is not a problem to solve - it’s a phase that allows repair.
So today I want to share a few of my favorite Winter Solstice quotes, my in depth article on Winter Sleep & remind you that it's the last day to enter my special contest!
In January - all paid subscribers (new and existing) will get the 3 Day Leptin Kickstart (At that time I will remove the Leptin Sensitive for the Holidays course from the welcome email, but if you get in now - you get lifetime access to the offers & retain them).
Winners will be announced on Sunday night inside Substack (as well as personally emailed), and if you are already a free or paid subscriber - you are already entered to win!
For most of human history, winter meant less daylight, lower light intensity, colder temperatures, less food availability, slower external pace and longer nights
Our physiology adapted accordingly.
Winter is meant to be a melatonin-dominant, repair-heavy, conservation season, not a productivity season that looks like summer with a coat on.
When we ignore that, and try to maintain late nights, late meals, and high stimulation - we create circadian mismatch, even if total sleep hours look “adequate.”
Today's in depth article will take you through the hormonal processes that you miss when you delay sleep (especially in the winter) - discuss biphasic sleep (broken sleep & how you can still be healthy if you have caregiving demands that interrupt your sleep.
I also did a sneak peek preview of an interview with sleep expert - Mollie Eastman, and we discuss strategies for insomnia when you are doing all the "circadian stuff" & still struggling - click here to watch the preview
Solstice Blessings:
Hal Borland reminds us that with each season in life - there is wisdom to be gained:
“Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.”
Another quote I come back to every winter is from Sharon Blackie:
“Winter is not the death of the life cycle, but its crucible.”
Winter is where the nervous system downshifts, mitochondria repair, hormones recalibrate, and the body catches up from the year you just lived.
If you try to override that… you feel it.
If you respect it… things slowly start to work again.
And then there’s this one, which I think should be required reading in modern wellness, from Wendell Berry:
“To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring.”
Loving only summer is how we end up fighting our own biology.
So today, instead of pushing, optimizing, or fixing - I’m honoring the pause.
This might be one of my favorites by Dacha Avelin:
“After the longest night, tomorrow we sing up the dawn. There is a rejoicing that, even in the darkest time, the sun is not vanquished. As of tomorrow, the days begin to get longer as the light of day grows. While the gentle winter sun slowly opens its eyes, let us all bring more light and compassion into the world.”
However you mark today - quietly, symbolically, or not at all- just know this:
