By Lenni Ferren, NLC
As the trees change colors, they are conserving their energy and preparing for winter. Just like people, the trees are affected by the change. As the temperature grows colder, their leaves turn from green to gold, red and orange, and eventually, they fall away. For trees, fall is a time to conserve energy in preparation for surviving the stress of winter, surviving change. You can learn that change and transition are inevitable, and adapting and coping with change can benefit you. Resourcing yourself prepares you and supports you during times of transition. You can use this time to go inward and reflect on what is nourishing in your life and what is not.
Resourcing
Stress and conservation is an important theme for fall. Stress is a natural part of life, but it takes up our physical, emotional, and mental resources. Therefore, it is important to resource yourself both in acute times of stress and for difficult times that may lie ahead. Instead of waiting for a crisis to make changes, Resourcing yourself in your daily life can help you in the future. The following are some examples of resourcing:
Rest: Rest helps you conserve resources. During times of stress, your body may require more rest to repair itself. Listen to your body. If it is asking for rest, how can you accommodate this? Perhaps it is following a more regular sleep schedule, taking more naps, or just having more downtime to get into the rest and digest where your nervous system can settle and process.
Support: During times of stress and transition, things get stirred up, like leaves blowing in the wind. When emotions get stirred up, they can sometimes feel difficult and overwhelming to process. However, processing these emotions can help move them, whether through journaling or with a trusted person or therapist. Times of stress and transition can also be when you feel overwhelmed and must delegate tasks to take care of yourself. Asking for support in any form can help you conserve much-needed physical, emotional and mental resources. Asking for support isn’t always easy, and it is an important and necessary skill.
Nourishment: Nourishment is an important fall theme. The trees are conserving nourishment, for many final harvests in preparation for winter are taking place. What we choose to nourish our mind, body, and spirit with can make a huge difference in how resourced we feel during times of stress and transition. Nourish your mind with information that feeds it instead of depletes it. The food and water we take in can also affect how we feel. Movement is also a form of nourishment. Just as you listen to your body when it feels tired, listening to your body when it wants movement is important too. Movement also helps move emotion. When you are feeling stuck, movement can help. Ask yourself what things leave you feeling nourished and what things leave you feeling depleted.
Resourcing helps you sustain balance so that you can weather whatever winter storm comes your way, no matter how strong the winds may blow. Just like a squirrel stores nuts for the winter, your choices, habits, and actions are like nut stores tucked away for those times when you need some extra strength and energy to get through a long winter.
Boundaries and Balance
Just as the trees must drop their leaves to conserve their energy for the winter, you must learn to let go of what drains your energy. Conserving energy looks like setting healthy boundaries. Setting healthy boundaries with yourself and others helps you and others learn how to live in a way that feels safe and reduces unneeded stress; it is the ultimate act of love and self-care. Boundaries also help you find balance. Are the amount of care for yourself and others balanced? Is there a balance in your schedule?
Letting go of old patterns allows you to make room for new, more nourishing ones. The same goes for releasing relationships and unhealthy patterns in them that no longer serve you. If you have relationships that are not nourishing you and prevent you from new growth, it may be time to start setting boundaries in these relationships or letting them go completely. If boundaries are challenging for you, finding a therapist to help you navigate them can be life-changing.
Change
Seasons teach us that change is inevitable. The only thing constant is change, and when you resist change, you suffer. You can learn surrender and acceptance from the changing seasons and how to trust in the natural rhythms of life. When you surrender and allow change, growth will follow. Change can be uncomfortable, and it can also be beautiful.
Fall reminds us of change and transition. Nothing stays the same. Accepting the impermanence of seasons and life helps us live in the moment, to appreciate the present moment, and in doing so, shows us gratitude. Gratitude helps us to take the focus off what is going wrong and focus on what is also going right. As the nights grow, dark earlier fall is a time to go within and reflect on your life, accept change, find balance in your life, and in doing so grow. You develop inner resources that make you stronger and more resilient. Fall’s lesson is that where there is change, growth will follow.
If you are interested in resourcing yourself and would like support exploring and integrating these skills into your life, please reach out to a therapist at Evolve In Nature who will be happy to help you create a life that feels resourced, nourished, and balanced during these times of change and transition.