Wintering is a practice of seasonal planning
I’m not a do-as-I-say kind of person. I do this boundary clarity work alongside you. And as I’ve been designing 2026 content and new offerings (sneak peak at the end), I’ve revisited what boundaries I need on my calendar in order to make some big plans happen. Setting boundaries isn’t about restricting yourself from the things you actually want, enjoy, or value.
Boundaries are about making sure you don’t self-sabotage your plans!
That’s why boundary work is ongoing. You get to shift and reset your boundaries every day, every relationship, every season, if you want and need. It’s all experimentation and revision. No mistakes or errors, just shifts with clarity.
The Winter Solstice this Sunday invites you to match your shifting energy and environment. As the days shorten, your body naturally wants to slow down, even when work deadlines, social demands, and family expectations pull you in the opposite direction.
Winter creates a kind of forced alignment. My typical work day includes Zooming from my outside desk. But in winter I’m drawn inward, physically, emotionally, and mentally. Seasonal living reminds us that, like Nature, we move in cycles. Our energy rises and falls across the year, the month, even the day, just like the moon in her steady rhythm. Winter simply makes this truth impossible to ignore.
Part of not self-sabotaging what you want is getting clear on your seasonal capacity and desires. Let’s get going with some solstice-inspired reflection.
Winter slows down growth so much that you might not even see it because it’s happening underground.
Where in your life are you still operating at a summer or fall pace?
What would it feel like to slow just one part of your day by 10%?
In winter, it’s natural for all living beings to conserve their energy.
What drains your energy fastest right now?
What boundary would help you conserve instead of leak energy?
Winter emphasizes rest, stillness, and dormancy.
What part of you is asking for stillness, pause, or deep rest?
What would you allow to “lie dormant” for the next few weeks without guilt?
Winter clarifies priorities. (Only the essentials survive.)
What feels essential to you right now, and what is simply noise?
What project, commitment, or expectation could you release this season?
Winter is the season of embracing darkness, honestly, so you can then recalibrate. It’s where you see clearly the structures—internal and external—that no longer fit. What are some small truths you named in your reflections? Are there signals of what you are ready to unlearn, soften, reimagine, or reinvent?
Inside The Grove community, these were some of the prompts we used to approach planning and strategizing naturally. Not with SMART goals or that forced summer vibe productivity year-round that leaves you chronically exhausted. We lean into the natural seasons as partners to what our own inner seasons of life and work ask from us.
That brings us to where we’re headed next. Winter shows us where we’re out of rhythm with ourselves. And folks, most of us have been way the heck out of sync with our own bodies, values, purposeful impact, community, and Earth for a long freaking while. I say that super lovingly because I have a path back into alignment for you!
Our 2026 theme: Deinstitutionalizing.
A year of unlearning rigid systems, rewilding your instincts, and aligning with yours and Nature’s intuitive, cyclical rhythms. I’m so excited to share more with you about it.