When is your winter? Recognising and honouring your inner seasons.

I've been quiet on here lately, and here's why...

I just experienced my worst winter, and it was so tough.

This February and March, I reached some form of burnout - super emotional, unable to exercise and needing at least 2 hours more sleep.

I was beginning to question my ability and right to work in this space, I had to say no to social events, and I knew I either had to surrender to a break or have a breakdown.

But I realised I felt the same last year. What seemed to be everyone else’s yearly awakening is my personal winter.

We worked with the school holidays when I had my dance school, so I had regular recharging times. And given that I went into teaching from school, I’d lived by school terms since I was 4 years old! 

Then I passed my school on so that I could coach. I am so passionate about what I do that I find it hard to put my laptop down, plus, I hadn’t really factored in proper recharge times.

I took most of April off, and I feel so much better. It gave me time to recharge, reflect and re-evaluate. Now my daffodils are beginning to bloom.

It made me realise that viewing January as the start of a new year is crazy - it's dark, cold, and all we want to do is hibernate. No wonder New Year's resolutions don't stick. In my humble opinion, the new year should be in March!

When is your winter? When do you find you need to slow down and surrender? Some like to put their brakes on as the leaves begin to fall, others prefer to slow down and embrace the warmer months.

Trust the natural flow of your inner seasons and don’t push yourself to bloom all year round. We have our own, individual cycles to sew, blossom and hibernate. Trust your inner seasons. Listen to your intuition - your body is always talking to you.