Because growth is a continual process, we occasionally have to make adjustments to our process amidst everyday life transitions. Life doesn't stop - growth happens as life happens.
We have to pivot as we move between seasons - calendar seasons but also life seasons. Sometimes those transitions are seamless but sometimes it is a bit more jarring or difficult to navigate.
Maybe you can think of a specific time or life transition that required a lot of pivoting. Do you have other seasons of life where less pivoting was needed?
I'm experiencing one currently, so let's walk through how naming my season has helped me continue my growth journey.
I've been in a bit of a funk for a couple of weeks - feeling mentally hungover and fatigued, physically aching a bit and less motivated for idea generation.
It feels like I'm coming out of a season….and subsequently, will move into another. When? No idea. What's next? Not sure. So what now?
I wrote a blog post on honoring your season and so I'll take my own advice as I wrap one season and say hello to another. I'm going to sit with it and, “Be where you are”.
I have named my last season - I'm calling it ‘big energy’. You don't actually have to give it a proper name but ‘big energy’ feels appropriate here.
Just like naming a feeling helps to give you peace of mind around it, naming seasons can do the same.
Identifying what a season focuses around or includes helps your brain prioritize what needs the most attention during that time. Once you understand that season's energy, you can more easily establish habits and routines to support that focus. Other activities can move down in priority if they are not related to that focus.
My habits and routines, which have served me well in my last season, aren't as effective as I'd like right now. I find myself needing more down time and having less 'get up and go'. As I try to be where I am, I am reflecting on what's serving me and understanding where my energy is right now.
The season of big energy included:
Bringing big energy and action around several big rocks as a business owner
Consuming lots of material on all my current projects
My mind engaged in all the things
Constantly seeking out information and expertise from others
Not easily able to be fully present with my family even though I really wanted to
Filling up my days with productivity and being exhausted at the end of them
Hustling at the gym and getting more protein in my body to fuel it
Never enough post-it notes to capture all my ideas
Experiencing no joy in cooking - all my creative energy is focused on other things
Thinking about having more fun but feeling that I have too much to do instead
Not giving more to my relationships
It was a very productive season and one that I loved for so many reasons.
I saw that I have the capacity and strength for new thinking.
While I prefer the safety of the known, I can step out and create and maneuver in the unknown.
I can create community with others who have the same values and that is powerful.
I'm also careful not to get down on myself for any of the things that I just called out. No judgment. They served me in that season.
Whew. But now what? Well for now, nothing. It's likely time for a new season for me - right in the middle of a calendar season too!
Personal, life circumstance seasons don't align with calendar seasons. Lovely, huh?
Here's what I have been doing naturally, that signals to me that my current season is shifting:
Napping
Tidying my space
Savoring any quiet (that may also be because I have two chatty boys…so much talking….)
Holding my boys' hands as much as they will let me
Loving the challenge my husband brings to taking care of our bodies right now. It keeps me motivated - um, he goes to the gym 6 days a week…
Taking what I can off the calendar
Fewer podcasts and reading, more quiet instead
Catching up on tasks that I've not had capacity to do
Beginning to think and plan a little further out
Giving my plants more love
Just being quiet with my thoughts and words
Finishing little projects here and there
Resting
My pace has slowed and these things feel different than the previous season's activities and energy.
As I think more about what the next season will look like and feel like, I will consider lessons learned from the season of ‘big energy’ but I will not dwell on it.
Do you see that naming the season (however long it may have been) and seeing it for what it was can free you up for what will follow?
Your season may not be one of big energy like mine was but you can still recognize when the activities of one season shift and the pace differs - it's the pace of something new that you just haven't named yet.
You will get back in a groove with new goals, habits and routines that will serve you again in your next season.
Take heart. You will settle into the next season just as I will. Growth will continue.
For now, if it's a time of transition for you, savor some rest for your mind and body. During this time, consider how the next season can serve you and look forward.
Once you recognize the transition and name your season, there's room for asking 'where is my next opportunity for growth?' Give your mind the space to sort out your seasons and the growth will follow.
Commenti