Just Put It Down: A Mother's Winter Mantra for Mindful Living
Victoria Moreau • November 13, 2024

Just Put It Down: A Mother’s Winter Mantra for Mindful Living

The other day, I was driving, my little one in the backseat, content with her bottle in hand. Until, suddenly, she started frantically asking me to hold it for her.


Let me preface this by saying—she’s more than capable. She’s popped that bottle into the cup holder a hundred times before. But in that moment, with traffic jammed up and the relentless kids’ songs wearing down my nerves, I snapped:


“Just put it down!”


And she did. Calmly. Obediently.
Like she’d never needed my help at all.

For the rest of the drive, I couldn’t shake the thought:
How often do we do this?
How often do we cling to something we could easily release—just because we’re overstimulated, overtired, or running on empty?


What Are You Still Carrying?

That small moment stuck with me.
And as winter rolls in, it’s become my quiet mantra.

Just put it down.

Not forever. Not dramatically.
But just for now—long enough to breathe.

Because if we’re being honest, most of us are holding too much.
The mental lists. The emotional weight. The constant effort to be everything for everyone.

We carry it all like it’s ours alone.
And we don’t realize that our arms are too full to hold anything nourishing until we finally let something go.


Winter Is the Invitation

Nature gets it.
The trees are shedding. The light is pulling back. Animals are slowing down, resting, retreating.

But what do we do?
We make more lists.
Buy more things.
Fill the calendar until it’s bursting at the seams with obligations, all in the name of joy.

But real joy?
It lives in the quiet.
In the ordinary.
In the moments when we choose to soften instead of perform.


A yellow sign that says avalanche area on it

What If Rest Was Resistance?

There’s a quiet kind of power in putting something down.

Not because it’s finished.
Not because you’ve earned it.
But because you matter too.

Rest doesn’t have to be a weekend away or a spa day.


Sometimes it’s:

  • Leaving the laundry for tomorrow
  • Eating while seated, not standing at the counter
  • Letting the text go unanswered for now
  • Saying no to the extra cookie exchange because you're tired


None of these are extravagant.
But they’re radical in a culture that glorifies burnout.


Just Put It Down

Let this winter be a season of release.
Let the undone things stay undone a little longer.
Let yourself be held by something quieter than productivity.

You’re allowed to rest.
You’re allowed to reset.
You’re allowed to put it down.


Mini Prompt for Reflection:

What are you holding right now that you could lovingly lay down—even just for today?

✨Gentle Next Steps

The Rooted Beginnings Workshop was made for moments like these—when your body and heart are in transition, and you need a place to land. And if you’re craving softness in your self-talk, the Heart-Led Handbook will walk beside you, one gentle prompt at a time.

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