“But the Arcadian Calendar has a style all of its own – highly gothic, distinctly pagan, patterned and stylised in the manner of Art Nouveau. It’s darkly humorous, vicious, chilling, but also silly.”  

Katherine May, The Arcadian year in Stray Attention by Katherine May

There are many ways to measure a year. In a world driven by efficiency, productivity, achievement, acquisition, and consumption, I find that thought comforting. Flexible measurement feels gently ambitious. I love calendars and planners and goal setting instruments. I am expert at buying tools and establishing goals. I simply have follow-through issues. When I think about it, wintering is a process by which we slow down the process of measuring a year. In wintering, we pay attention. In wintering, we get to know our selves. In wintering, we identify desires and dreams and write them down on the calendars of our hearts.

As this year gets underway, I am waiting for my 2022 planner to be delivered. I ordered it in early December, and it was lost in the mail. (It feels very on message for the last few years for my planner to be lost in the mail.) I am determined, once it arrives, to sit with it and mindfully plan my year. Having learned a few of my wintering lessons (like, 1. slow down, 2. feel all of it, 3. get outdoors, 4. live “I love you”, 5. write it down), I will get out my pen and fashion a year with a style all its own.