Rest & Reset – My Slow Start To 2022

I can see that the new year bullying has begun in earnest. Is it any wonder many of us feel the January blues when we’re surrounded by messages telling us to dive into the new year full of vim and vigour and reinvent ourselves, as though our existing selves just aren’t good enough?

It’s time we gave short shrift to all of this nonsense.  I’m not playing the game. I’ll be ignoring all the calls to CHANGE MY LIFE be it with a diet, a detox, a punishing new health regime or lotions and potions.

Neither will I be suckered into the idea that a spending spree in the sales will set me up for the year ahead with a new look or a new lifestyle. 

Once upon a time I’d have started the year scraping the barrel in terms of energy having run myself ragged over Christmas, but yet still armed with a list of resolutions and goals a mile long– all set to launch myself into the new year at full tilt. And inevitably the outcome would have been total exhaustion before the month was out, along with the self-flagellation for failing to achieve those goals and still being the regular version of me, and not a new improved one! 

But if life at Swallowtail Hill has taught me anything it’s that living at a pace dictated by the seasons is far more helpful.  Winter is a time for slowing down, reflecting, contemplating and making plans. A softer, kinder approach to the year ahead is one that serves me better. Yes there are intentions for the year. But they aren’t sticks to beat myself with. They are simply a focus on how I want to feel, and how my life needs to be shaped in order to feel that way.  And what I want to feel is connected – to my own values, to those people I love, and to the world around me. So, January for me will be about long, mindful walks in nature, cosy nights in front of the fire with the dogs and Christopher and making plans. And some of those plans will be for you, because we know that many of you look on this place as a perfect pause in your busy lives – a chance for you to rest and reset, and it’s our privilege to help you to do just that.