It’s coming up on four weeks until spring.

I’m busted: just as guilty of frittering away the day when I’m holed up inside when the wind chill is too cold outside to go out of the apartment.

I’ve written that I value being in tune with the natural world: to be in synch with the seasons. Fall is the harvest to enjoy the bounty of our labor. Winter is the season to hibernate and to clear out the old and make new plans. Spring is the rebirth of ourselves to have the energy to carry out our goals. Summer is sweet and the living can be easier in that season.

This is how our lives evolve: season-by-season. Yes: I do value respecting the forces of nature. I value living near greenery or within an easy commute to a park. The goal in New York City a couple of years ago was to plant a million trees.

If you’re going to hibernate, I make the case for doing it in style. Lie in bed for hours in elegant pajamas. Listen to the radio. Read a fashion magazine.

Yet sometimes the lure of doing nothing must be heeded. Part of living life-even for those of us who are not in recovery-is to recover from the daily grind. To rest and recharge our batteries on the days when we’re not active outside.

A typical winter’s day, Chez Chris:

7 a.m. – wake up automatically without alarm clock and listen to the radio when the alarm does come on.

morning – work on a writing project.

afternoon – fritter away my tax refund by shopping on the Internet.

late afternoon – install CDs on my computer from iTunes.

night – listen to radio.

next day: lather rinse repeat all of the above.

It doesn’t help when Presidents’ Day is an official holiday and baby it’s cold outside so you stay indoors shopping all over again on the Internet.

Do not try this at home: I don’t recommend a person goes into debt using their credit card.

I do recommend hibernating in the winter. The siren’s song of lying in bed all day can’t be resisted.

Five days later your packages will arrive in the mail.

What’s not to like?