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Way, way back in early September 2025 the weather switched from long ,hot, dry sunny days to slightly cooler, shorter ones. Autumn was coming, and Winter wouldn’t be far behind.

As a child, and indeed until really quite recently Summer was my least favorite time of year- all the heat and sweatiness and inertia. Yuk. Roll on September. Autumn was my happy time- back to school or adult learning classes, friends back from travels,catch ups, new beginnings, crisp walks through glorious woods, bonfire night and Christmas on the horizon.

Then came snowy days in Winter. If we were lucky over the Christmas holiday, if not after school- hours outside on our sledges, cold, wet but oh what fun.

And then I got older. Back in 2012 I think I had been removing frost and ice from my car every morning for six, ok I exaggerate five months , and I cried, I hated Winter with a vengence. It was cold and the ice was treacherous. I was not happy. Fortunately for me later that year I changed job and worked afternoons only. Then we moved house , and the weather here is milder, and I am retired and don’t have many early starts.

But, in the following years Winter has become a slog again, not so much snow and ice, but endless days of damp, cold, cloudy, mood- sapping blah.

Last year I tried so hard in Winter. I embraced every day that the clouds gave way to the odd hour of sunshine. I found outings to go on- inside of course, and got through. And then sometime in April the sun came out and we had Summer and I loved it. Until September and I started to dread the coming greyness of Winter, which is only marginally better than endless ice in a country that just doesn’t cope with it.

Appreciate was my word last year, and I tried so hard not to look too far ahead; to stay in the moment as the advice goes. The change to my Christmasses as I’ve grown older I think I have dealt with in a positive way , and I now really love the things I do.

But something felt out of kilter still. Could I use One Word to help me? I pondered for a long time on the word Growth , and I really thought that was it. As you may have noticed I like a doing word. I like positive action.. problem..how to solve it. But something was lacking in this word, but what?

And actually it was the postive action bit that was wrong. It doesn’t go deep enough…aaargh, What is missing?

The solution came to me.. what was missing is that my word assumed that what I needed to do now was grow (not actually grow since I have spent nearly 10 months in shrinking) but…..

I have been re-reading Wintering by Katherine May. Buried quite deep in there was the kernal of something.

I am out of sinc with the seasons. I have electric light and lovely gas central heating. Hot water. Food outlets which ,I could ,if I chose ,walk to within 5-15 minutes. I have books, craft supplies, radio, TV. I could stop home and avoid all the yuk of Winter, or any season/weather etc that gets me down. But instead I choose to try to carry on with “normal life” as if nothing outside is happening. And then get cross because I can’t get the lid off my new tin of de-icer spray for the car, and there’s ice on the road.. first world problems for sure. Who the heck do I think I am?

So my new word for 2026 is SEEK. I am getting older, my time is limited, I need to think more, reflect more, change a bit maybe , prepare myself for what I know is to come, one day and hopefully not for a long time. I want to ask questions, what wisdom did our ancestors have that we have forgotten? This year will be one lot of questions. And the one that looms for January, is what exactly is going wrong in my mind set that has me dreading for no real good reason- Winter- way back in September.

SEEK- Definition- Make search or inquiry for, ask, aim at, pursue as object, a person, advice..

And where can I look for answers?

There’s no where to link One Word posts this year but if you have written one, then please feel free to use comments to point us to your blog.