Literary life: on winding down in the winter break

I’m currently on a two week winter holiday from my day work in a grammar school. Seasonal festivities aside, my primary goal of this holiday is to sleep and convalesce. Since November, I have had four illnesses, pretty much back-to-back: bronchitis; strep throat; covid and norovirus. My immune system, and indeed my body generally, needs to recuperate.

Why are we expected, in modern society, to have the same output in winter as we do in summer? When flu season starts, surely it would make sense for us here in the Northern hemisphere, to hunker down and hibernate. Okay, so maybe not like how bears and wolves hibernate, but certainly winding down and working less while sleeping more. I could totally get behind that. According to science, I’m not alone – check out this article on the topic.

Speaking of productivity, in terms of my literary output, I am not getting as much done at the moment while focusing on my health and on spending time with my family. You know what? That’s okay. I’ve never been the type to set strict deadlines for myself, or beat myself up if I don’t manage a certain word count each day. Besides, 2022 has been a productive year for me, which I’ll summarise in my next end-of-year post.

For now, whether you celebrate anything at this time of year, or nothing, here’s hoping for good health and happiness for us all. There’s nothing more important than health. If you don’t have a healthy body and mind (big hugs to those struggling with SAD, I’m there with you) you can’t really do anything. This is the season for some self-care and tlc. Here’s to getting some ZZZs.