Are you ready to release the winter doldrums and step into the expansive energy of Spring? Many of us, me included, cocoon and slow things down in the winter, which is part of the cycle of life.
If we’re not careful, we can find that it becomes a pattern that sabotages our joy and happiness and may leave us feeling as if we’re just surviving and not living fully. As a Certified Navigating Transitions Coach, I love sharing tools and strategies to support women in navigating the transitions in their life so they can create space for joy and inner fulfillment.
As you transition into the energies of Spring, here are five strategies to support you in shifting into the new season:
1. Spend some time in nature.
Ground yourself. Now that we are hopefully experiencing more daylight and the temperatures are beginning to thaw, it’s time to take advantage and get outside. If you can, take a walk in nature at a park or a walking path. Ride your bike on a lovely, wooded trail. Try walking a labyrinth for focused meditation. If you wish to spend time less actively, find a place to sit outside, like a porch, your steps, a bench, or an outside table at a cafe or restaurant.
Just fifteen minutes of sunlight first thing in the morning helps regulate your body’s internal clock and offers several benefits. It resets your sleep-wake cycle. It controls melatonin production, which keeps you more alert during the day. It boots serotonin, enhancing your mood. Daylight increases the production of vitamin D, critical for your immune system and bone health. In addition, morning sunlight works to improve brain performance, focus, and mood, regulates sleep patterns, and can reduce depression.
2. Find the things you enjoy doing and do them.
Whether working out in a gym, reading, cooking, knitting, or a meal with friends, when you are involved in an activity you enjoy, you are happier, and time passes more quickly. Find a new hobby, explore something you’ve always been curious about, check with your local Y or community center to see what groups and classes they offer, or explore Meetup for groups in your area.
3. Spend time with people who make you smile and laugh.
Spending time in community with people who make you smile, and laugh, is a critical part of nurturing yourself. Isolating ourselves can leave us feeling stuck, unfulfilled and struggling. Take a step today and call a friend and meet at your favorite coffee shop, or enjoy an uplifting play, movie or musical that lights you up. Enjoying a mixture of virtual and live-in person gatherings is sure to feed your soul and lift your spirits. I have joined book groups, and a group of other women my age who are also single. Give yourself the gift of fun and laughter.
4. Thrill each of your senses.
Identify activities that incorporate and stimulate your five senses of taste, touch, sight sound and smell. What experiences can you plan that incorporate as many senses as possible? I think of an outdoor concert where there is amazing music, a delicious-tasting picnic that is also a feast of color for the eyes and texture for your hands. And the aroma of the food! That’s one that encompasses all the senses. What can you imagine? You don’t need to combine them all, but perhaps one experience focusing on one sense. I know a woman who loves perfumes and scents so much that she started to hold perfume parties so her friends could invent their personalized concoctions. Perhaps a drive along an awe-inspiring route would check something off.
5. Increase your self-care.
Start by asking yourself what you need? What would help you feel more joyful? What would move the needle forward? Remember that self-care is not selfish; it is required. We are unable to care for others if our own needs aren’t being met. What is self-care to you? Is it taking time for a long bubble or salt bath or taking a long luxurious shower? Is it taking time to listen, dance or sing to your favorite music or do a puzzle? Does it mean taking a 30-minute walk after a delicious meal? What about making the time or effort to shop, prepare, and enjoy an amazing meal for yourself and/or others? Could it mean sitting in front of a fire and reading a book just for fun? Going to a concert, a play, a dance performance? Self-care needn’t be expensive it only needs to be a time where you come first.
Two Empowering Tools for Your Toolbox:
1. Start writing your own bucket list of experiences that fall into each of the steps above. Extra “brownie” points for things that fall into more than one area. Categorize them by seasons and begin to make them come true this spring!
2. Create your own intentional affirmation for the spring season, using these three steps and say it out loud at least three times a day.
a) Power word. Start with one quality you possess that your friends admire you for. Example: I am {fill in with what your friends admire about you}. In my case, my friends say I am creative.
b) What 3 skills or tools have you used to help when you have felt stuck?
I am going to {fill in with action tool #1}, {fill in with action tool #2}, and {fill in with action tool #3}. In my case, I have journaled, taken a bath, and talked with friends. Sometimes I nap and wake up feeling better.
c) What 3 character strengths do you possess that have helped you in the past? Fill in the blanks to this affirmation: I will get through this with my {fill in with your strength #1} and {fill in with your strength #2, and {fill in with your strength #3}. For me, it would be flexibility, tenacity, and resourcefulness.
Now put these three components together into your new affirmation. Here’s mine:
“I will spring forward out of survival mode because I am creative. I will journal, take a bath, and talk to a trusted friend to help me navigate this. I will get through this using my strengths of flexibility, tenacity, and resourcefulness.”
Occasionally everyone could use support to spring forward. Reach out to a professional life coach, counselor, or therapist. You don’t have to do this alone.
