Coming in From the Cold

It’s been cold lately! Southerner that I am, my body (and heating budget!) is in shock from this drop in temperature that has had Fall feeling like an unusually cold Georgia Winter. Interestingly enough, despite the chill, I’ve been finding myself going out and seeking community a bit more lately. And I’m not the only one. I keep hearing people talking about how they’d been hermiting over the last few months and were coming out because of a need to be around others again. Often, this exchange is followed by a joking comment about this being the time we’re supposed to start hibernating, not start leaving our homes. 

The joke is right, in a way. I know, on some of the colder days lately, a part of me wanted nothing more than to stay in bed, wrapped up in blankets, for the whole day.

Lately, though, there is another, stronger, part of me that yearns to see my friends and family. I feel pulled to bundle myself up in my warmest, brave the icy wind, and visit in my community. For someone who is made as miserable by the cold as I am, this is an oddity. Why am I not hibernating? What am I thinking, going out in this frigid air? I love my people but I’m certainly not normally this drawn to see them!

I got to thinking about how people in the coldest places on earth manage to stay sane during their polar winters. Hurrying out of the cold quickly is a necessity but life and, most importantly, society doesn’t shut down while everyone stays warm, alone in their own homes. No, we are social animals. Our need for community is ingrained in us - it is one of the survival traits of our species.

When the air starts to numb, causing our teeth to chatter and stomachs to clench... When the sun gives us fewer and fewer of her precious rays... When our spirits are depressed from the tension in our chilled bodies... This is when we need each other the most. Instinctually, we relate fellowship with safety and our moods are improved by this subconscious acknowledgement and by the smiles on our companions’ faces.

This is why we come together for Winter festivals the world over. We are buttressed by each other against the penetrating blasts of the season. The warmth of love and companionship, of care and community, is a fire worth tending in this surprisingly brisk wintertime.