As someone who generally thinks the more natural way is the better way, being a professional in tech marketing is a challenge in putting the rhythms of nature into practice. For one, the slowing of nature’s growth and activity during fall into winter.
I naturally follow this pace, accepting the cold and finding fun in warming up like drinking hot cocoa/tea, wearing cozy sweaters, and turning on the small heater at my desk. And yet, at work, there can be a sense of urgency and activity as we enter this season.
In the US, the first slow down happens between the end of summer and Halloween, though honestly this holiday isn’t much of a break and feels more like the beginning of a lot of (home)work - decorating and celebrating with friends and family. The second is between Halloween and Thanksgiving, and the third is between Thanksgiving and Christmas, which coincides with the end of the year and the end of some businesses’ fiscal year.
So, even though we physically and emotionally want to slow down and reduce planning, our professional lives are asking us to hurry up and complete tasks / figure things out / prepare for next year. I suppose we push these things until the last minute for a variety of reasons, and I do think we tend to have time in January and February before things really heat up in the spring.
People do seem to awaken around March. I noticed the shift starkly this year, perhaps because it was my first spring not at Red Hat (where I had been for 10 years) AND the pandemic was *really* over. The pandemic had a muting and blending effect on the seasons keeping us from gathering and marking the changing with each other.
The summer tends to be a whole lot of active. This is the time for travel to places where we can sit back and enjoy the weather and the people in our lives. We need that time. It sweetens life and gives us the opportunity to gain some mental rest from the routine of home and work life, replenishing our energy and creativity.
That brings us back around to the speeding up and slowing nature of late summer into fall and winter.
I find my biggest takeaway this year is to act and rest with intention and purpose. To not “go through the motions” of the seasons, the holidays, and all the activities that come with them.
Why? Because life happens during all the in-between moments. Deaths, births. Learning new lessons, revisiting old lessons. Making new friends, visiting with old friends.
Consciously say yes. And no.
Give real responses. And reasons.
Your own.
Things you can only do when you’re here in this moment, despite the crushing beauty and pain of it all.