Life has a natural ebb and flow. At any given moment you are prioritising things in your life, and letting other things fade a little. Just as the seasons have different focuses: Spring renewal, Summer bloom, Autumn harvest, winter rest - we live our lives in seasons.
Identifying the season that you are in and understanding and embracing what you really need is invaluable. It provides space and a point of reference to understand yourself and where you are. Simply knowing that you have seasons allows you to encapsulate where you are and create context. I find that you move through three general seasons.
STRIVE - THRIVE - HEAL
There can be overlap, of course, but knowing which season you are in allows you to focus on where you need to put your time and energy.
STRIVE
Strive is a season of growth, learning and developing. This is a season of achievement and gain. It can be exhausting, testing and stressful and it can also be exhilarating, highly creative and progressive.
This season is a great time to invest in:
Coaching to learn, up-skill and develop at this time
Courses and skill development tools with clear objectives and outcomes
Self-care systems to maintain and recoup energy
This is a time of high spend and high yield.
Non-negotiables that will support you at this time revolve around:
Action
Optimisation
Creativity
Protection
Refuelling
As a coach:
Clients in this season need focus, accountability & reminders to refuel. It is an exciting, high energy and very forward focused time, so staying connected to ‘why’ and vision are critical to stay on purpose & task. Plus, with so much output, refuelling is vital.
What else shows up?
Fear, imposter syndrome and a reaching to ‘play small’ can creep in during this season, especially if you are not taking time to re-energise. Equally, overexertion and burn out need to be managed.
THRIVE
This is a time of being highly present. A time of gratitude, play & engagement. It is a time to enjoy where you are. To honour self, the life you have worked toward. To celebrate successes and embrace the now.
This season is a great time to invest in:
Coaching to embrace the moment, self-development & awareness, as well as look at your vision
Quality time and project, both alone and with family
Habits and systems that allow you to stay present
This is a wonderfully grounded time and a place to start to dream.
Non-negotiables that will support you at this time revolve around:
Connection
Routine & structure
Grounding
Connectedness
Joy
Balance
Presence
Pause
As a coach:
Clients in this season benefit from presence and gratitude, self-awareness and often a clear view of the future and their vision, as well as an honest view of past lessons. It is a grounded time to maintain pace and not rush out of this season of connection and joy.
What else shows up?
It can be a time of ‘itchy feet’. Coasting and a sense of stagnancy can develop if you do not engage with the present. It can also be a time of deep connection, appreciate and joy. This is a time to invest in family, self-development and awareness.
HEAL
This is a time to recover. A time to (re)group and (re)ground. Healing does not have to be born of broken, burnt out or injured. It can be a very conscious time to pour into your cup and ideally it is a season you enter before it becomes a necessity.
This season is a great time to invest in:
Coaching to support deep reflection, forgiveness, recovery and self-care
Grounding activities that provide meditation, massage, nature, recovery, reflection
A time to do less and be more
This is a time to rest. It can be marked by exhaustion, loss, pain or stuckness, but it can also be a time of deep reflection, change and ultimately, growth.
Non-negotiables that will support you at this time revolve around:
Deep self-care
Love
Healing
Replenishment
Listening to self
Reduction
Stillness & reflection
Peace
As a coach:
This is a time for gentleness, of drawing out, forgiving and honouring. Meeting the client where they are and need to be - not where they want to be - is especially important. Slow, gentle, reflective coaching grounded in self-awareness, understanding, and where necessary deep forgiveness. It can also be a space for relearning and re-identifying.
What else shows up?
Guilt and a sense of laziness can show up as the mind and body fight the need to do less. Negative internal dialogue and doubt can show up, especially in an overtired system. It can also be a time of deep learning and understanding self and provide a gentle contrast to the high energy of a Strive season that it usually follows.
HOW THE SEASONS INTERACT
These seasons ebb, flow and transition with overlap, and very rarely on our conscious timeline!
Thrive usually leads to Strive
Strive can lead to Thrive or Heal depending on the level of self-care employed during that season.
Heal can equally lead to Strive or Thrive depending on self-awareness, depth and type of healing; emotional, identity or burn out.
I love to see (and experience) a cycle of Strive - Heal - Thrive, especially when the season of Heal becomes a conscious choice to refuel. It marks a cycle of effort, recovery and appreciation.
It is important to recognise the value of Thriving. Falling between Striving and Healing can lead to a sense of manic-ness, lack of satisfaction & leave no room for joy. Achieving and recovering are all well and good, but never taking the time to appreciate all that you have achieved is a sure-fire way to lose any sense of meaning or joy.
As a coach I meet my clients where they are - regardless of the cycle. I hold space for where they are and witness as they transition to where they need to be - providing the tools and vocabulary to navigate each season. Clients often come to me at a time when their seasons are overlapping, for example, striving, but desperate to heal - Thriving, but itching to move into Strive. It is the confusion of this overlap that often leads them to seek support.
Awareness is critical. Just because we want to be in a different season, does not mean that our mind or our body are ready to cooperate! Frustrating, I know! Often, as much as we need to heal, the current project still needs us to strive. As much as we want to move into a energy of striving, we need to ground in our appreciation of the now - the season of Thrive. Engaging in the season that we are in is the best way to move forward - doing the work and being present - allowing each season to run its course makes transition natural, and far easier than a forced change!
Embracing each season and employing non-negotiables that support it are invaluable.
So what season are you in? Reflect on where you are right now – what energy serves you and what do you need more of to support yourself?
Check out my free process: 5 Steps To a Non-Negotiable Life & support yourself where you are now.
