“Anxiety, keep on tryin’ me
I feel it quietly
Tryin’ to silence me, yeah
My anxiety, can’t shake it off of me
Somebody’s watchin’ me
And my anxiety, yeah…”
– Megan Thee Stallion, “Anxiety”
Yep. For those of us who celebrate Christmas, we are literally just coming down from the rush and high of the holidays. For everyone else, you’ve probably been anxious about end of year in general.
What makes this week between Christmas and the start of the New Year feel so weird for a lot of people? Of course I have some theories.
The holidays are technically over, the year is ending, but nothing new has started yet. You want to relax but somehow you can’t keep those gnawing questions eating away at you. You know the ones, those questions you were too busy to think about a week ago: “What now… what’s next… what am I supposed to be doing with this time?”
Because we live in a culture that is deeply uncomfortable with stillness, we feel guilty about just sitting still. So you may feel the urge to fill up this space and even if you’re physically moving, your brain is racing a mile-a-minute, and it’s a drain on your energy. And I speak from experience, as a recovering Type-A New Yorker. Plans, lists, goals, cleanups, decisions, declarations – we create anything and everything to avoid the feeling of being in-between aka, Not-being-productive.
From a Feng Shui and seasonal perspective, energetically, this is theoretically a neutral week. Winter demands a pause, so it’s not a time for big decisions or dramatic moves. That not-being-productive pressure can be subtle, but man, is it is powerful. It can create so much anxiety where none is needed (see Megan’s lyrics above).
Wintertime is Yin energy – slower and quieter rhythms. Nature is not blooming or expanding right now, but resting. And so should you.
Instead of asking what you should be accomplishing right now, a simple way to work with this energy is through observation by asking different questions:
1. Where in my life do I feel depleted?
2. Where have I been on autopilot?
3. What feels heavy or unresolved?
Your answers will show you where you have been holding onto tension. Then do nothing about it now. Just observe and trust. Trust and observe. Rinse and repeat.
January will come whether you prepare for it or not. Everything is a cycle; momentum will build naturally again, so please let this week be your pause. Release the anxiety, as sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is nothing at all.
