It’s weird to talk about seasons in a country which only has two: hot and hotter. (Maybe there should be a third one: hottest!)
But something in my spirit connects to the idea of the four seasons. It’s wonderful to witness beautiful evidence of change, of evolution, happening year after year, without human effort or our insistence on the right results.
I remember seeing the sticker above from the stationery shop Eden Street.
It spoke to me because I never thought of my life as having its own seasons. Like the Philippines, I thought that my life had to be a perpetual summer—which meant perpetually growing and thriving.
But the last eight years has revealed to me that I’m actually in autumn and winter. (Yup, eight years is a long time. I’m okay with that—things need to take the time they need.)
I was shedding old identities, old ideas, old ways of doing, old ways of showing up in the world. My closets, bookshelves, skincare routine, makeup drawer, jewelry box got purged as I got clearer on what sparked joy and what I loved.
And that kind of shedding needed rest and hibernation after. That was what the pandemic provided. It gave me a chance to burrow into a safe space and shore up the energy for what’s to come.
I feel that the next season in my life is emerging soon. By honoring the seasons of autumn and winter through grateful acceptance* rather than resistance or insisting on continuous forward movement, I am ready. I don’t feel tired from the pressures of perpetual growth. Instead I am energized because I am no longer carrying unnecessary baggage and I was able to rest my body, heart and spirit from its ceaseless striving.
Does this idea of your life going through seasons resonate with you as well?
If it does, I would love to invite you to ask yourself the following questions:
What season do you think your life is in right now?
How can you honor it?
Here’s to appreciating wherever you are in life right now. You are neither going too fast nor moving too slow. You are exactly where you need to be.
*I try. This is still a work in progress.
