Day 25 of Loving MN Winter, 2018

We all know summer in Minneapolis is lit. Grilling, group rides, lake swims, cut offs, windows open.

But the warmer, brighter months can feel really overwhelming and hectic for me. Winter is the time where I dream my biggest, most colorful dreams for myself.

It is different for everybody, but I feel like my mind benefits from a tidy workspace. Winter is a beautiful time where the stark, sparse view out of my window is a reminder to clear the clutter of my mind. To take some breaths and just sit with myself and my thoughts. To take a walk in the cold, walking like a baby penguin on icy sidewalks. To sip a hot beverage slowly, slowly, slowly.

If the thawed seasons for for biking doing socializing going going going… the frozen season is for dreaming. Chasing a little idea or a little inspiration and going all the way in, all the way down the rabbit hole.  So far I’ve read about Captain Cook’s death in Polynesia, the illegal annexation of the state of Hawaii, started reading the Roxane Gay and Ta-Nehisi Coates reboot of Black Panther, planned out the next three months for my business, and have been connecting with BIPOC creatives and makers for another project I’m working on.

All of these things started off as a tiny ice cube, but I started exploring and discovered a whole iceberg of things to learn and people to meet. Did anything get produced? “Done?” Not really. But my relationships are growing, my brain is being fed, and I wouldn’t have had the attention span in the full swing of summer.

I love winter for being a blank canvas for my busy mind.