Lit Woman Winter
A vibe report ❄️
Much of life comes down to the vibe. And, almost by definition, vibes, essences, and auras are hard to define. The shadings are extremely subtle. What follows is a vibe I’ve been sucked into like a vortex, and I’ve been calling it Literary Woman Winter (or Lit Woman Winter, for short).
I think this phenomenon started for me this past August when I grew so fed up—almost disgusted, honestly—with the spectacle of social media and so-called “entertainment.” Not only did literally everything I saw feel like an ad, but nothing even piqued my interest. Entertainment ceased to entertain me. It’s like I went full circle, like I had watched everything there was to watch, and I suddenly found myself at the end of what I thought was an endless timeline. (See related: Everyone is numbing out.)
What’s a woman to do when the adult pacifier of social media and entertainment actually loses its appeal? Read a book? Yes, lol, as it turns out. In August, I started reading again for real. I’ve always loved reading, but I didn’t have the time—or so I thought—to crank through full books on a regular basis. I was just dipping my toes in here and there. I was bored with everything else, so I started to find the time, and it had a striking effect on me. I started writing fiction again, page after page, story after story. The world started to feel simultaneously more alive and more tranquil to me. I internalized this, which resulted in feeling more at peace: more invested in my life while also being less attached to the outcomes.
This experience reminded me that reading is the main way to expand your mind as an adult. Media consumption simply does not cut it. If you want to separate yourself intellectually from your peers, develop serious interests and passions, feel calmer and more collected, have deeper, more interesting conversations, and rarely feel bored, you have to read. (Books, by the way. Not Instagram captions, not Twitter, not product recommendations from The Cut. Books.)
Our lives are so tragically short, and the only way to live other lives is through reading. Podcasts, YouTube videos, Netflix documentaries, TikTok—these are fun distractions, occasionally interesting, but you won’t retain the information the way you will with a book. When you are the one seeking the knowledge, it hits different. And the whole process kind of softens you (in a good way). It makes you more aware of others and their perspectives, more contemplative, more observant, more in tune with your feelings.
So, Lit Woman Winter started out as kind of a Reading-Core/Library-Mode thing for me, but it’s really more about being present while also yearning while also being vulnerable. There’s an ideal attitude I’m getting at, and it’s hard to define, but it encompasses kindness, gentleness, good will, sensitive understanding, and self-respect.
With all that said, here are 22 things that I’ve been digging that feel spiritually aligned with this vague-ish concept of Lit Woman Winter.
