What "season" of life are you in?
To be an entrepreneur is to be a creative. Fundamental to the creative process is navigating through different phases of inspiration (or non-inspiration), action (or non-action), and adapting based on your energy levels (or, at times, lack thereof).
Jill Therese, founder of Heal Your Face With Food shared this post recently about how she categorizes life by seasons. The full read below.
Whether in a specific season for a year or for a week, or even a day, determining which “season” you’re in, and understanding that it’s a part of a cycle, can free you up to embrace where you are at and fully reap the value from that phase.
One time, a family member said something really important to me that I’ll always remember:
They said that life has “seasons”.
And over time, I’ve started to categorize the years of my life - or even months of my life, into the following categories (which, funnily enough, mirror stages in nature):
Lying fallow
Seeding
Cultivating
Harvest
Here’s what each “season” of life feels like:
Season #1 “Lying Fallow” & how it feels:
You’re out of gas - maybe you’re recovering from something? There is a lot of sleeping at this stage. Maybe a feeling of numbness? You’re sad. Or tired. Or just… exhausted. You feel *heavy*.
You’ve spent your last ounce of gas on that very last-most-important-thing (relationship, job, launch, goal, dream, accomplishment) and your car will literally not move one more step without refuel. I associate lying fallow with *winter*.
Silver lining here, the true definition of “fallow” = : a plowed and harrowed (field) but left unsown for a period in order to restore its fertility as part of a crop rotation or to avoid surplus production.
I love the last part of that sentence :“... in order to restore its fertility as part of a crop rotation or to avoid surplus production…”
Fallow = Resting = Regenerating.
Season 2: “Seeding” & here’s what this feels like:
You’re feeling little sparks. Staying in bed all day like you’ve done for the past few days OR even months (or even years) no longer feels good. You’re feeling a little restless, to get movin'. Slowly, quietly, the magic has come back into your life. I equate this period with spring.
Season 3: "Cultivating" & here's what this feels like:
You’re on a roll. Things feel… aligned? It feels like every time you look at a clock it’s showing you some type of magic number, i.e. 11:11, or 2:22, or 12:34 telling you that you’re moving in the right direction. You’re excited. You get up looking forward to the day. Projects are being completed.You’re hustlin’. This feels like SUMMER.
Season 4: “Harvesting” & here's what this feels like:
If lying fallow feels heavy, during the harvesting reaping season of your life, you might feel light as a feather. You’re relaxed, things that you were waiting for are HERE; you feel physically amazing, you’re in love with you, you’re feeling like sunbeams are basically coming out of your eyeballs. Your soul feels at peace.
How have my years looked?
2015-2016: ... Was definitely a year of harvesting for me. I set out to travel - and spent 18 months “on the road” traveling through 8+ countries and eventually living in Spain for a year. I spent two years preparing for this trip prior (so these years were “seeding” and “cultivating”). It was everything I was hoping it would be, and also, nothing at the same time.
2017: ...Was a year of lying fallow. Basically, at the end of 2016, my entire life was turned upside down. Like, super extra levels of crazy intense craziness. I spent almost all of 2017 licking my wounds. The word “heavy” doesn’t even begin to describe the feeling. I was…. Dead inside. (But that’s ok! I’m back to life! Don’t worry!)
2018:... Was the “seeding” year:) Even though 2017 was excruciating and I spent a better part of it in bed, and/or angry at the world, it was so necessary. One of the things that “lying fallow” does is that it allows you to CULL. What do I mean by that?
For our purposes? Cull =remove EVERYTHING that doesn’t serve you and that's what I did. I got wildly clear on everything that didn’t matter to me and wildly clear on everything that did matter to me.
What season are you in?