You’re Knackered — Because We Were Never Meant to Winter Alone
There’s a particular kind of tired that arrives in winter.
Not “I need an early night” tired.
Not “I’ll be fine after the weekend” tired.
But a deep, cellular exhaustion — the kind that sits in your bones.
And yet, we keep telling ourselves something is wrong.
That we’re lazy.
Unmotivated.
Falling behind.
Losing our spark.
But what if the truth is much simpler?
What if you’re not broken — you’re wintering?
Winter is biological, not a mindset problem
Winter places different demands on the body.
Our immune systems work harder.
Our nervous systems crave safety and slowness.
Our hormones respond to darkness by asking for more rest.
Our digestion needs warmer, grounding food.
This isn’t weakness.
It’s design.
And yet modern life expects us to move through winter exactly as we do summer — same pace, same output, same expectations — with a few candles thrown in and the word “cosy” slapped on top.
No wonder we’re exhausted.
The old ways of wintering
There was a time when winter meant gathering.
We worked with the light.
We stayed close to the fire.
We shared food that had been stored and prepared with care.
We told stories — not for entertainment, but for healing.
Storytelling was how we integrated life.
How we made sense of what we’d lived through.
How we remembered who we were.
Most importantly, we were not alone.
Winter was communal.
What we’ve lost — and the cost of it
Today, many of us winter in isolation.
Warm houses, yes — but cold internally.
Scrolling instead of gathering.
Pushing instead of resting.
Trying to “fix ourselves” instead of being witnessed.
And the cost of that is huge.
Loneliness increases.
Burnout deepens.
Illness becomes more common.
We start believing the problem is us.
It isn’t.
The problem is that we removed the village.
Why we were never meant to heal alone
Healing was never designed to happen in isolation.
We are cyclical creatures.
Village beings.
Nervous systems that regulate through connection, not self-discipline.
Especially in winter.
This is why gathering matters.
Why circles matter.
Why slowing down together matters.
Not to do nothing — but to integrate, reflect, and remember.
The Sacred Pause
This is the heart of why The Sacred Pause exists.
It’s not about stopping life.
It’s about moving through winter differently.
Gathering instead of isolating.
Reflecting instead of rushing.
Honouring what’s been instead of bypassing it.
Visioning from wisdom, not pressure.
Because if we don’t take time to collect the magic of the year we’ve lived, we carry it forward unfinished.
Winter is the threshold.
The in-between.
The place where endings and beginnings meet.
And you don’t have to cross it alone.
If this resonates, you can listen to the full podcast episode here:
🎧 Around the Kitchen Table | You’re Knackered — Because We Were Never Meant to Winter Alone
CLICK HERE
And if your body is asking for deeper support this winter, The Sacred Pause is an open invitation.
Not because you’re failing —
but because you’re remembering.
