This is the part of winter no one talks about — the in-between. The space where you’re not closing the year anymore, but you haven’t stepped into the next one either.

It’s quiet, almost uncomfortably so, and it has a way of bringing up things you didn’t exactly schedule time for.

Winter doesn’t just happen inside individuals.
It happens between people, too.

Between co-parents trying to keep routines steady while juggling everything else.
Between colleagues who care about each other but are running on fumes.
Between family members moving around the same house but feeling worlds apart.

Children have their winter signals. But adults? Ours tend to be disguised as being “fine.”

You keep going, showing up, and managing schedules, emotions, meals, projects, relationships—until one day you realize you're running on the same 2% battery you’ve been ignoring for weeks. This is the grown-up version of wintering.