A few weeks ago, Bear crossed my path—literally. I was running errands, driving down a road that cuts through a college campus. All of a sudden, a black bear dashed out of the woods to my left and bounded across the street. I slowed the car as a second black bear, a smaller one, rushed across after the first. Then another. And then one more! By this time I had my foot firmly on the brakes. It felt like every time I’d thought it was safe to move, another bear appeared. So I waited an additional few beats, as did the car on the opposite side, to make absolutely sure there were no other stragglers. The driver and I smiled at each other in amazement as we slowly got going again.
As I approached the next intersection, I glimpsed the line of bears ambling on through the field of tall grass toward the woods. A mama bear and her three cubs? Whoever they were, it felt like a blessing to witness them.1
I have seen bears—black bears—on two other occasions during the decade-and-change I’ve lived here in western Massachusetts. The first instance was similar—I was out for a run and saw a bear shoot across the street far ahead of me (“Is that a cat?? That’s a big cat… Wait, that is NOT a cat!”).
The second time, I came home to find a bear cub exploring my backyard.
Cue the cuteness (from a distance—don’t worry! I zoomed in as far as I could for this pic)!
But four at once?! Beyond amazing!
Except…aren’t y’all supposed to be hibernating? Have the four-leggeds been swept up in hustle-and-grind culture, too? Certainly, they’ve been encroached upon, if nothing else. Mama Bear may have been “running errands” too, but I’m not going to find myself in line behind her at Home Depot or Trader Joe’s, right? At least, dear Beetlejuice, I hope not! And I will not say that name again.
This post was intended as an update. I’d been hoping to post more often. I’ve got a draft going about my most recent encounter with jury duty. There’s also one I’m writing about how I got started with genealogy. I’m enjoying the process, and they are taking longer to write than I thought they would.
And, for some reason, my energy has been really low lately. I’ve got all these ideas in my head, and yet my body keeps acting like all I want to do is sleep, or stay in bed, or lounge in my recliner all day.
Could it be that I need to hibernate?
Winter. A time when this half of the planet tilts away from the sun, and gets a little less heat from our star. A time when half of creation rests while the other half keeps watch, keeps the balance. And where do humans fit into this? Modern society seems to do everything it can to make sure we forget that we are earthly creatures, that the orbits and cycles and seasons affect us too. It’s like our species missed the memo, or merely skimmed it before tossing it into the recycling bin.
We celebrate the end of a Gregorian year and then flip the calendar to the next, as if this flip activates a reset button that wipes the slate clean and instantly recharges our batteries. Could so many resolutions fail because they’re jumpstarted at a time when our tanks are empty, when our motivations and energy have naturally waned? How many of us rush around decking the halls and lighting up every thing and every one during the longest nights of the year only to wake up the next month fully depleted? It’s like we skip the winter vibe altogether.
Skipping the winter vibe is unsustainable.
Believe me, I need to listen to myself and reread this. What if we let the earth’s cycles guide us? What if we let the rising and the setting of the sun be our guide for when we clock in and clock out? What if we mirrored the moon’s fullness or darkness and let these cosmic events cue the days and nights when we push ourselves—or ease up—a little more.
Or the weather? Vitamin D is harder to come by in the winter due to the shorter days. Maybe we aim to spend as much time as we can with Sun whenever we can see them shining. Sun Days as well as Snow Days! And let adults enjoy Snow Days, too!
I’m not saying I’m there yet. Not even close. Yet I invite myself—and you—to pay attention to the cycles of the planet, and let them guide us toward balance. Little by little. Moment by moment. Day by day. Maybe you might notice the next time your phone goes into Night Mode. Or, you find an app that alerts you to sunrise and sunset, or the cycles of the moon.2
Or maybe you get a chance to stick your head out the door or open a window. And take a deep breath—or two, or three, or four!—of fresh winter air.
Be well, and
- The bears in the first image are not the ones I saw. It’s a stock Getty image I downloaded from Unsplash. It all happened too fast for me to even think of getting my phone——and I was driving! The second pic IS mine, of the black bear who came to visit one fine June day. ↩︎
- I use Max Daylight (iOS) for sun info and MoonX (iOS and Android) and Moon Pro for lunar calendars. These are not affiliate links or anything, I’m just sharing them because I like and use them. These links take you to the iOS App Store. If you’re on Android I’m sure there are comparable apps there too. ↩︎
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