Embracing the gifts of the “season” you’re in
How is your heart these days? Mine is both full and weary right now.
For the last few days, my energy has been low. I’m exhausted from the flurry of climate actions that I’ve been a part of lately. My heart aches as I think about the climate crisis that we’re living, and my typical pace of inspired creation has slowed down. At the same time, my heart is full. I’m buoyed by love for the big-hearted activists I’ve met at recent actions, grateful for the privilege of the work I get to do coaching climate leaders, and I’m in awe of the simple beauty of the bright red and orange foliage of the east-coast autumn.
I wonder if any of this resonates with you?
Yesterday, I called Seth and Anastasia frustrated. Why can’t I seem to get anything done? Why does every task on my to-do list feel so freaking hard right now? Agh! If I were a better coach or activist, I would know how to pull myself out of this funk, right? My friends helped me see that what I needed most was to hit pause, and take a few steps back from the pressure I was putting on myself. Maybe the sky wouldn’t fall down if I took a few things off of my to-do list, or if I just got a little less done than I promised I would do this week.
I took the day off this morning to go to my favorite swimming hole in the Hudson Valley of NY.
As I sat with my feet in the freezing water, feeling the sun on my body and listening to the falling leaves, I realized that what I’ve been experiencing is a sort of personal autumn, but I’ve been trying to force it to be summer.
Our lives have seasons, much like our movements and our Earth, and it’s not always going to be summer! Just like there is a time for big flashy actions (summer), there also needs to be time to recover and harvest lessons (autumn/winter), and time to dream and prepare for what’s next (spring). Just as there is a time where everything in life is humming along beautifully (summer), there comes a time when we find ourselves wondering if this is really what we want (autumn), when we let go of what wasn’t working (winter), and when we allow a new vision for what’s possible to emerge (spring).
In my own life, I make things so much harder for myself when I am trying to “force” it to be a season that it just isn’t. I would love to be spending my days prolifically writing curriculum for all of the programs that I want to offer you all in the new year. I wish that my creative juices were flowing like a river and I had the energy to knock 20 things off my task list each day. I have experienced times like this, and damn is it glorious. But, for that level of prolific creativity to come, what I need to do now is to allow myself to be fallow for a little bit.
If I embrace this personal autumn rather than trying to force the spring to come early, then I get to receive the gifts that autumn brings: quiet restfulness, slowing down, listening to the wisdom of my body, and turning inward. I get to cuddle my people, write in my journal like it’s my job to do so, and lay on the ground in the forest like I did this morning with no expectation but to just be there.
Even though the personal autumn may look like nothing is happening, there is actually so much that is happening in this time. The leaves must fall and return nutrients to the earth for there to be buds in the spring.
We have seasons just like Earth does. Isn’t that beautiful? If you’re in a fall or winter, remember, spring always comes. Always! If you’re in a spring or summer season yourself, drink it up! Eventually, it will shift.
Reflect for yourself: What personal season are you in right now?
What does this season feel like for you? What lessons and gifts are there for you to receive from this season? Why is this season a necessary part of your own cycle? Why is it necessary in Earth’s cycles? What can Earth’s seasonal cycles teach you about your own?
No matter what personal season you’re in right now, I invite you to join me in embracing the gifts of the season that you’re in.
With love and falling leaves,
Jess
