How Wintering Helped Me Embrace a Slow Season of Growth

There was a season of my life when I couldn't stop spiraling.

But not in the dramatic, rock-bottom way.
No—this was quieter.
Gentler.
Confusingly calm.

I was doing all the “right” things. Journaling. Eating better. Meditating.
And yet, something in me felt… stuck.
I wasn’t moving forward. Not in a way anyone could see.
And the worst part?
I thought that meant I was failing.

It wasn’t until I found Wintering by Katherine May that I understood the truth:

I wasn’t falling behind.
I was deepening.

🌬️ Wintering Gave Me Permission to Pause

Katherine May describes “wintering” as a season of forced or chosen retreat—a sacred time when life asks us to slow down and let the quiet do its work.
It could be brought on by grief, burnout, illness, depression, motherhood, or simply… existing in a world that never lets you stop.

She writes:

“Wintering is a season in the cold. It is a fallow period in life when you're cut off from the world, feeling rejected, sidelined, blocked from progress, or cast into the role of an outsider.”

Reading that line felt like someone had taken my inner fog and turned it into language.

Suddenly, the spiral made sense.
I wasn’t stuck.
I was wintering.

🌀 Why This Book Matters in the Becoming

In Episode 19 of the LTS Daily Podcast, I talked about the myth of linear growth.
How real transformation looks more like a spiral than a ladder.
And Wintering?
It is the sacred blueprint for that spiral.

It reminded me that healing isn’t always upward.
Sometimes it’s downward… inward… slower… softer.
And that softness isn’t a weakness.
It’s a stage of becoming.

🧠 The Psychology of Slow Growth

Neuroscience backs this, too.

During “wintering” phases, your brain isn’t inactive.
It’s pruning.
Resting.
Integrating.

According to Dr. Lisa Miller, the quiet spaces in our lives—what she calls the “birth canal of meaning”—are where true spiritual and neural transformation happens.

So if you’re in a season where things feel fuzzy, you cry more often, or the world feels too loud to bear…
That doesn’t mean something is wrong.

It means something is shifting.

🌿 What I’ve Learned (and How You Can Start, Too)

Here’s what Wintering helped me embrace:

• You don’t owe the world your productivity.

• You’re allowed to take a step back without falling behind.

• You can let go of old identities, slowly and without applause.

This season of soft unraveling is not the opposite of growth.
It is growth.

And if you’re wondering what to do in the wintering?
You don’t have to fix it.
You just have to tend to it.

Here’s how I started:

• I used the LTS Journal: Know to track my thoughts, emotions, and shifts without judgment.

• I returned to rituals—not routines. Candles, tea, music, breath.

• I stopped asking, “How do I push through?”
  And started asking, “What do I need to feel safe right now?”

• I joined a group of women in the Quantum Leap Course who were walking their own quiet path back to themselves—and I finally didn’t feel so alone.

✨ If You’re Wintering, Too…

I want you to know this:
You are not broken.
You are not behind.
You are becoming.

And you don’t have to rush it.

If you’ve been craving softness, stillness, or slowness…
This is your sign to honor that.
To listen.
To pause.
To let Wintering be part of your becoming.

🎧 LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

Episode 19 – “The Becoming Isn’t Always Linear” pairs beautifully with this book. It’s your permission slip to spiral, soften, and slow down without shame.
→ [Listen here]

📓 JOURNAL WITH ME

The [LTS Journal: Know] is where I wrote through my own wintering season. It’s designed for moments like this—when words are hard but healing is happening.

🚀 WANT TO TURN THAT INNER CLARITY INTO GENTLE MOMENTUM?

The [Quantum Leap Course] will meet you in the in-between. No pressure. No performance. Just realignment that starts with presence.

Remember, You are not behind... You're becoming...

xo, 

Melissa