Women Heal Women: On Community, Connection, and Emerging From the Hermit Phase

As the days grow shorter and the cold begins to settle in, I always feel that familiar pull inward—the instinct to curl up, stay home, and retreat into my own little world. Winter has a way of making hermits out of even the most social among us. And for a long time, retreating was my default setting. Hermit mode felt safe. Predictable. A place where I could control everything and rely only on myself.

And honestly… I’m still unlearning that.

This past weekend, I attended—and spoke at—a retreat on how to run a soul-led business. I was invited to teach about hormones, cyclical living, and how women can use these rhythms to guide life, business, and creativity. But the most powerful part of the retreat wasn’t what I taught—it was what I received.

Being surrounded by other female business owners, healers, and leaders reminded me of a truth I seem to have to relearn again and again: I don’t have to do this alone.
I’m not meant to. None of us are.

I have spent so much of my life pushing, striving, carrying, and handling things myself—out of habit, out of survival, out of a belief that independence was the safest option. And while solitude has absolutely been part of my healing, it isn’t the whole story.

The real lesson—the one I am constantly working on, the one I am nowhere near finished with—is learning to let people in. Learning to receive help. Learning to trust community. Learning that connection doesn’t take away from my strength—it amplifies it.

At the retreat, we shared stories about business, burnout, passion, overwhelm, and the messy, sacred work of being a woman trying to build something meaningful. We laughed, cried, and learned from each other. And I felt something inside me shift again… a reminder that healing often happens in the spaces between us.

As winter approaches, this truth feels even more important. Seasonal depression, loneliness, and emotional heaviness tend to rise as the light fades and the world gets quieter. It’s so tempting to retreat, to cancel plans, to stay curled up at home. And while rest is important, isolation can sometimes deepen the very feelings we’re trying to avoid.

What if winter is exactly when we need community the most?
What if connection is its own form of medicine?

Women have always healed in circles—in kitchens, in gardens, around fires, in temples, in rituals and stories passed down through generations. We have always held each other through the seasons. And we can still choose to do that now.

This winter, I’m challenging myself—and inviting you—to reach out instead of shrink in.
Say yes to the coffee date.
Join the gathering.
Make the call.
Let someone sit with you in your growth, your tiredness, your joy, your uncertainty.

Because when women come together—honestly, vulnerably, powerfully—we don’t just heal ourselves.
We heal each other.
We heal our communities.
We heal our lineage.
We heal what came before us and what will come after.

May this season be one of connection, warmth, and shared healing—no matter how dark or cold the days become.

Health and Harmony,
Dr. Bobi Farrow