The Eleventieth Day of Snow

A nervous system reset that can shift your entire day

As I sit here on what feels like the eleventieth day of snow in the Northeast, I’ve been practicing something that can so easily fall off the list when we’re rushing and efforting:

Calm.

This morning, I turned on my favorite spa music that always calms me, closed my eyes and did a simple meditation practice. Nothing dramatic. Just breath and stillness.

And in that stillness, I remembered something.

When I allow myself to slow down and be calm, that’s when I connect to something larger than me — call it God, Source, higher power, universal energy. It doesn’t really matter what you call it. What matters is the connection.

And part of that connection is almost always gratitude.

Now, I’ll be honest — gratitude isn’t always easy to access in late February when the sun hides behind thick gray clouds and the grass that just peeked through yesterday is once again blanketed in snow. As a southern transplant to the Northeast, there are moments when the relentless winter can feel like a metaphor for stuckness. Like despair is just waiting around the corner.

But something interesting happens when I become still.

When I quiet my nervous system.

When I breathe and allow myself to connect.

My brain naturally shifts toward appreciation.

Without forcing it. Without pretending. Without bypassing reality.

It just… shifts.

And suddenly, the “I have to’s” become “I get to’s.”

That phrase came from a beautiful client in my Manifestation & Momentum group during a conversation about mindset shifts. We were talking about how language reveals our orientation to life. “I have to” carries pressure. Obligation. Weight.

“I get to” carries choice. Privilege. Opportunity.

The tasks don’t change.

The energy does.

And when that energy shifts, so does the entire trajectory of my day.

Calm Is Not a Luxury

So many of the people I work with tell me they want calm.

But calm feels indulgent. Unproductive. Like something you earn after everything else is done.

Here’s what I’m remembering (again and again):

Calm is not a reward. It’s a regulator.

When I slow down long enough to practice stillness, I reconnect with one of the values I hold most dear: gratitude. And I reconnect with a slice of my Wheel of Life that anchors me — Spirituality.

That daily moment of connection regulates my nervous system. It clarifies what matters. It softens the edges. It makes me more intentional.

Ironically, it also makes me more productive.

Because I’m no longer "efforting" from a place of depletion. I’m moving from alignment.

The Power of Sealing It In

And then there’s the final piece.

Writing it down.

When I take a moment to reflect and put words to the shift — even just a few sentences — it seals it in further. The mindset shift becomes embodied. The calm becomes integrated.

What was fleeting becomes anchored.

There’s something powerful about noticing the shift and honoring it on paper.

A Gentle Invitation

If you’re feeling buried under your own “eleventieth day of snow” — whether literal or metaphorical — I invite you to experiment with this:

Close your eyes. Breathe. Get still.

Notice what arises without forcing it.

You might find, as I often do, that gratitude is closer than you think.

And that one small shift from “have to” to “get to” can change the entire feel of your day.

Not because the snow stops falling.

But because you remember who you are — and what you value — even while it does.