Seasonal Change and Preparing for Rest
As we move into autumn and finish up another growing season, I find that I'm feeling more ready to shift into hibernation mode. If you had asked me last week, I would have fully denied it. The sun was still shining and it was warm enough to be outside all day. But this week the temperature has dropped and it's been raining on and off with a few more days of cold wet weather in the forecast, and suddenly I feel ready for a rest.
It's almost magical how growing food can change your perspective of the world around you. Before I started gardening in earnest, I obviously notices the change of the seasons, but not in the same way - with such depth. Having gone through a few cycles of seasonal change, I've especially started to recognize that there are certain activities that are best aligned with a specific season. I'm not talking about skiing in the winter and swimming in the summer. I'm speaking more to my internal rhythm and intentions as they align with the world around me.
Spring is new energy and an eagerness (dare I say hope?) for what's to come. It's about dreaming and planning and imagining and manifesting.
Summer is about growth, about tending that growth and reveling the results. It's playful and full of life. It's full of experiencing things first hand.
Fall is all about bounty. It's about harvest and getting the work done and preparing for rest. It's time for almost intense focus, knowing that rest is on it's way.
Winter is slumber, being tucked away in hibernation with long nights and short cold days. It's a time for rejuvenation and rebirth.
As I grow more comfortable with these shifts and recognize which season is best for which intention (do NOT start creative projects in September), I also recognize that this specific cycle is tied to the place in which I live. As snow-dwelling folks, we often muse that it would be so strange to live in a place where there wasn't the temperature variability that we have in Ontario. A winter with no snow?? But of course, each place has it's own seasonal cycles that unique to their own climate. It might be a rainy season, or a wild fire season, or some other natural weather changes that would create different seasonal shifts, tying people to their own sense of place.
Looking back, it's mind-boggling that I didn't feel this type of shift in the same way when I was younger. When I try and remember what it felt like to move through the seasons, I think mostly of the school year, holidays like Christmas and Hallowe'en, and sports that I played. Very structured, mostly part of a colonial culture, but some are well-rooted in events like harvest, solstices, and equinoxes.
Maybe it's time to reclaim our connection to place and grow into the changes that come with the change in seasons, regardless of whether you're growing food or not. I feel sometimes that we've become too far removed from the original intentions of seasonal holidays which are actually there to give us more purpose and connection. Pumpkin spiced lattes as a sign of fall isn't quite cutting it. Rather than commercialized holidays, I think we could all benefit from feeling the deep shift of the seasons.
As I find myself winding down on harvest season this year, drying the last seeds, digging up the last root veggies, it feels like my body is naturally preparing for the winter this season. Last year was, well, not great mental health wise. Winter is long where I live and seasonal depression is a real thing. I hope that this year I can move through winter with more self compassion and take the rest when I need it.
Here are some vows to try and help myself through the colder weather:
Try and get outside as much as possible. Fresh air and exercise really help me in ways that I don't fully understand.
Plant medicine. Tea is my friend. Drink it everyday.
Audio books for travel days. Driving in snow storms fucking sucks.
Be gentle on the kids! They feel these seasonal shifts too!
Minimal commitments, lots of spur of the moment decisions to make space for the bad days but still celebrate the good ones.
That's all I can think of right now. Please share any other tips!