Gentle New Year Intentions and Non-Rigid Writing Practices
Winter Doldrums, Storytelling, and Beginning to Write Another Book
My leaden legs trump, trump, trumped across the vast white snow. The only sound in the muffling silence is that crunch after crunch after crunch.
I try not to feel the bitter cold, so I think about all the things I like about winter.
The list is too short.
Snow collects on my upper lip and inside my collar, chilling my spine. The wind starts to swirl white flakes about, landing them into my eyes and nose. I slip on the frosty surface, putting a mittened palm into the snow and feeling my first hint of gratitude for the woolen protection. I pull my wet collar closer.
Over the blustery meadow, I begin to see a tiny yellow light. It pierces the snow swirls and brings the faintest warmth to my being. I know there is a tiny little house paired with that light—a steamy, nourishing cup of tea and a determined cackle awaiting my arrival.
The stormy scenery seems more bearable now, almost pleasant and sparkling. I marvel at icicles and swirls of white, not even noticing how much colder and more miserable my body is feeling.
I fast approach the yellow light and see a little red door and two bright windows peering through the snow. Because the door is familiar, I walk right through into the most enveloping warm smells of tea, mothballs, and freshly baked bread.
“I’ve been waiting for you, muffin,” says Nana to me, already unbuttoning my soaking wet coat and getting a warm wool blanket situated around my frozen frame.
At this moment, I love the winter so much, and I think my heart might melt along with the icicles in my hair.
I wrote that little wintry essay following a frosty writing prompt by
as part of her Winter Writing Sanctuary. Beth is a beautiful writer and author who hosts a free group writing experience every year, sending a few poems for inspiration and a writing prompt every morning around the holidays. Tens of thousands of writers participate in the Sanctuary, and I find it inspiring to curl up with a cup of tea and write along with others on the same theme.Most of the time, I write to translate science for the public, work on research for a book, or write clinical notes. This breezy, creative, open storytelling form of writing is both luscious and rare for me, yet it’s in space like this that I keep my craft strong. Ultimately, even scientists and non-fiction authors are storytellers. If we want to improve lives and effect change in families and cultures, we must write compellingly. I hope you enjoyed the little essay that explored how a memory of my Nana (she passed a couple of years ago at age 98) brightened my winter doldrums.
While some people feel that January 1 is just another day (and they’d be correct), some also like to capture the energy of a new year to let go of what no longer serves them and make intentions and goals. I’ve never been a fan of resolutions, especially lofty plans that fade by March. I propose instead setting gentle intentions, if you are a goal-oriented sort who likes to think of January as transition time.
I enjoyed the Winter Writing Sanctuary that brought forth that bit of storytelling, and I’ve committed to a daily fifteen-minute free-writing practice. It doesn’t have to be at the same time every day, and I can skip days here and there if other priorities loom large. The key for me has always been consistent, not rigid. Though I write as part of my work week all the time (hence this newsletter and a couple of published books), the free-form writing that comes from within me or a simple creative writing prompt is different.
It forces me to put words on a page that aren’t designed to be read by anyone; the act of writing down what comes is a practice like meditation. Sometimes, the fifteen-minute practice produces something that I share (like the little story above) or part of a newsletter (like the words about my next book that you’ll read below), but often, it clarifies something that’s been on my mind and heart. The writing is for no purpose but to connect me more deeply to myself and what’s meaningful in life at the moment.
Try it sometime yourself—or try something else in 2025 that helps you connect more deeply to what inspires you. But please do it in a non-rigid way so that it’s sustainable all year. The only way I’ve created new habits is by making them flexible and giving myself lots of grace.
I met two days ago with my Gen Z Book Advisory Team (my two nineteen-year-old daughters and two other young people in their twenties). This foundational gathering—in which I had to offer a book proposal presentation and yummy snacks for them to take me seriously—gave me direction for my next book and a strong pulse on what young people want to understand about eating and caring for themselves. They loved my overarching message and shared many scary things on TikTok that young people are exposed to about dieting, fitness, and orthorexic trends. Their insights were incredibly helpful and changed many of my initial plans for the book’s content.
Writing for a younger audience is an undertaking that presents new challenges. That said, it’s exciting and feels exactly like the direction my writing wants to take right now. I suppose it keeps me connected to my young adult daughters to create something for them and their generation. I begin my formal book writing this week, harvesting all the notes from that spirited meeting.
Only now do I feel clarity about book #3. I’ve learned a lot since Nourish was first published in 2018. The book won three awards and has many 5-star reviews from readers stating how much it changed their lives, but it was written before the pandemic and the explosion of social media. While there is a lot that my Gen Z team could relate to in this book, there is also a lot that we feel is missing and in need of an update.
My second book, Nurture, written for parents and published this past year, incorporates biases that I’m newly aware of as a woman with privilege and touches on my understanding of trauma and its connection to food and body challenges. An aim for my next book is to incorporate all that I am learning about what young people care about, as well as my own perspective as a clinician in the field of disordered eating for thirty years. Stay tuned, and I’ll share more about this book-writing process in coming months.
Other Nourishing Nuggets:
Cristina Castagnini interviewed me recently for her Behind the Bite Podcast. We talked about raising kids without stress or struggles over food, my own recovery and how it informs my work today, and much more. This was a particularly great conversation. I hope you’ll enjoy it and share it with your parent friends who are in the trenches feeding young people and needing some compassion.
I also spoke with Karen Hale of Cleveland Radio on her podcast, Avoid the Maze, on the topic of “Is it an Eating Disorder?”
If you are in the Boston. Massachusetts area and want to dance more in the new year, Encore Dance Ensemble (a modern dance company I perform with, all women age 40+) will hold an introductory movement workshop on Sunday, January 12 from 3:00 - 4:00 PM at The Arlington Center, 369 Mass Ave, Arlington, MA. All bodies and abilities welcome! (Space is limited. Please use this sign-up link or the QR code in the graphic below, designed by Jill Baker.)
If you can't attend in January, don't fret. We will have another workshop on Sunday, March 16, also at The Arlington Center.
Colleagues Deb Schachter and Whitney Otto have recently published an excellent book, Body Image Inside Out, available in all the places you buy books. They call it “couples therapy for you and your body,” which makes sense, as our relationship with our bodies is a significant one.
Colleague Mallary Tenore Tarpley is releasing a groundbreaking new book about her eating disorder recovery journey. Tenore Tarpley is a journalist and professor who writes about the “middle place” between “sickness” and “full recovery.” Her book Slip, published by Simon and Shuster, can be preordered now on Barnes & Noble and Amazon and will be available in August 2025.
If you are or know a college student who would like to be part of a support group for college students struggling with food and body issues, please respond to this post and let me know at heidi@anourishingword.com. I plan on keeping this group small, centered around reading and/or exploring social media critically together, and very affordable.
If you use electrolytes, I’d like to suggest trying Buoy, the first product I stand by enough to become an affiliate. I recommend it to clients with POTS, athletes, and those with other chronic conditions that affect hydration. It’s mostly tasteless, and you simply squirt it into any beverage. I personally don’t like the sweet or stevia-taste of most electrolyte solutions. Again, this is literally the first company I have ever promoted in this way; I’m impressed with their lifetime “chronic illness discount.” If you want to give it a try, please use my affiliate link.
If you’re a writer who’d like to write your next book along with others,
has a “12 Chapters Club” that might help you with accountability and structure, which can be challenging for authors and creative-types. And if that seems like too much pressure, then, as I said above, non-rigid and flexible consistency works for many of us who are trying out new practices or projects.
I hope you continue to find value in my biweekly offerings in the new year. As always, I love to hear about what resonates with you and what you’d like to hear more about, either in the comments in community at the end of this post or by email directly at heidi@anourishingword.com. (Yes, I eventually read and respond to everything that’s not spam.) “Likes” to this article increase engagement on Substack and are so appreciated. But, if you quietly enjoy this post, then I’m also incredibly honored to be joining you to usher in 2025. Wishing you moments of peace, presence, and maybe even some joy. The world needs your spark even more this year.
