Adjusting to Seasonal Change
It surprises people to hear of my relief at the end of Summer. It also comes as a surprise to my family and friends on the other side of the world in Australia (where I am from) because they know all too well the somber tones that creep into my voice during the winter and the cabin fever that builds after too much time spent indoors.
The longing for rain this time of year is environmentally motivated — it has been tragic watching many areas in the PNW endure wildfires over Summer. And it is more than that. It is a huge sigh of relief for me and others because there is a sense of collective depletion after a whirlwind of social activity. I suspect, even for those amongst us who identify as introverts, we engage in more social activity than usual because of the knowledge that the sunny days are fleeting. And, as highly sensitive folks know, even if you are extroverted, excessive social interaction can have the same effect as it does on introverts — it becomes depleting.
For highly sensitive people, it is hard because while most people are able to maintain this high level of social activity during Summer, this will wear them out. As social creatures, humans need and benefit greatly from social interaction. However, in the case of introverts or people on the sensitive end of the spectrum, social interaction is healthy and necessary and simultaneously depleting. For HSPs, being around others can be taxing on their physical and emotional resources, and in a group situation it can lead to over-arousal of the nervous system because they process more sensory information (and they process on a deeper level). Knowing that high sensitivity actually contributes to overstimulation can help moderate behavior, and it helps people understand where the fatigue comes from.
Beyond the increased social activity that accompanies Summer in the Pacific Northwest, adjusting to seasonal change can in-itself be challenging for HSPs who are more deeply impacted by their environment and by change than others. Some highly sensitive people describe feeling as though their mood can change with the weather, and while Summer may come with elevated moods and excitement about adventures and access to novel activities, the fatigue invariably hits because of over-arousal. Furthermore, there can be guilt about taking that much-needed alone time or rest because of the temptation to “make hay while the sun shines”. And so, we are tempted to push beyond our limits until the cooler weather rolls in and enforces time indoors spent recharging and unwinding.
Mindfulness can be an extremely important tool for understanding what is happening internally when the external world overwhelms and it is hard to detect one’s needs. Through developing a mindfulness practice, we can learn to better listen to what our body is telling us about our level of arousal including signals of stress, anxiety and fatigue. With this knowledge, we can make choices that better suit our unique highly sensitive disposition (a disposition that has been shaped by an overactive central nervous system).
Each year as Summer draws closer there is a sense of anticipatory anxiety about the finitude of the warmth and light, and the impending seasonal change. As the leaf colors change the dread shifts towards acceptance that Fall is upon us and they begin to embrace the change. And while in the summer for highly sensitive people it might often feel like they are walking a fine line between enjoyment and burnout, when the cooler months begin it is easier to find balance again. With the increase in rain and the onset of shorter days that accompany our transition into Autumn, we feel as though permission has been given to slow down and shift gears.
