This is how you honor your personal seasons and your creative commitments
And it’s much simpler than you think.
You ever have a day or week or month where you literally just don’t have the capacity for much. But you still try to push through feeling and being fully stretched because you “told yourself you would.”
Or because you don’t want to let others down. Or you feel guilt and shame for feeling like you need a break…just a moment away from checking off your to-do’s?
I’ll wait a second while you recall, because I know the answer is a big fat YES MEL.
I distinctly remember a moment at the end of August where I was in that exact place. Although it was summer, personally, I was (and still am) in a personal winter.
Think of the characteristics of that season. Things are dying, shedding, moving slower. It is a very introverted season, calling for more stillness and moving into the darkness. I share more about syncing and honoring your inner seasons with the natural seasons in this podcast episode:
This specific week, I was having a hard time navigating the beginning of a really significant life transition and was experiencing a ton of emotional discomforts. So as a result, I never got a chance to really sit with the podcast episode I wanted to record. And I was a day away from my deadline.
When I realized that, my immediate (default) response was “oh shit, I have to get this episode together. I have to sit down and write this out. I cannot miss a Wednesday of releasing an episode. I can’t be inconsistent. If I don’t do this I am failing in some way.”
I felt my anxiety rising in my chest. That sensation of being pulled from my body. And then, like a light switch, I remembered the commitment I made to myself just a few months before.
I made a commitment to myself, to remain in what I’ve called ‘clean energy’. This is a space of no-pressure or urgency when creating something to put out to the world. It’s been very important for me to stay devoted to that for my whole wellbeing.
I took some deep breaths, which then allowed me to hear the key question to help me move forward: “how can you honor your commitment to the podcast AND honor the energetic cycle you are currently in?”
I sat with that a while and just let the answer come to me.
And just like that, it did. I decided I would not record a new episode, but I would release a podcast episode I was featured on that was pre-recorded two months prior.
In taking the time to not only ask myself that question, but to allow space for the answer to come, I was able to do three things:
Honor the commitment I made to myself to release a weekly podcast episode.
Honor my current energetic cycle — which was very low bandwidth and wintery.
And, honor the commitment I made to myself to remain in that clean, non-pressure, non-urgency energy.
Regardless of societal standards, that was a clear cut expression of success for me. Asking myself that crucial question allowed me to give myself access to choice. It made space for me to create options that, a moment before, I didn’t realize were possible.
The moral of this share is, prioritize returning to and making good on the commitments with yourself. I could have easily kept going down that self-abandoning, self-sabotaging rabbit hole, but I chose to cut the shit by asking myself a simple question.
Because not only am I committed to a healthier way of being with myself and life, but I’m devoted to it. It is not self-enabling or self-pacifying to honor your personal seasons and your energy when deciding what you will or won’t do in a moment.
Regardless of how we’ve been conditioned, you always have the choice and the right to honor both your personal energy and the commitments to your creative/work endeavors.
You can fill in the blanks with whatever two things you need to honor in a moment: How can I honor _____ AND ______?
Allow the answer to come.
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Mel The Oracle is a mentor, yogini, voice artist, writer and host of the Full Ass Human Podcast. After initiating a business sabbatical in march 2022, she began to explore a re-dedication to her many passions. She supports her listeners and readers by vulnerably modeling humanness, teaching by living and reminding them to invite all dimensions of themselves to the table.
