What Season Are You Really In?
Permission to Be in Winter (Even in January)
There's a beautiful irony in how we celebrate autumn trees. We snap photos of their glorious colors, their final burst of brilliance before the leaves drift down. But we rarely stop to honor what comes next---that bare, vulnerable winter stance that looks like ending but is actually profound preparation.
Last fall, a dear colleague sent me an invitation that would have set my hustler heart racing: a retreat in France, VIP sessions in London, opportunities to "amplify my impact." Beautiful words. Generous offers. And yet, I found myself feeling something unexpected---a quiet, resolute "not now."
Not because the work didn't matter. But because something deeper was calling---the need to honor a different kind of season.
Dormancy vs. Death
When they shed their leaves and stand bare against the winter sky, they're not giving up. They're going deeper. Below that seemingly lifeless surface, their root systems are strengthening, their sap is concentrating, and their cellular structure is preparing for a more vibrant spring than hasty growth could ever produce.
The tree doesn't apologize for its winter form. It doesn't hustle to prove it's still valuable. It simply... waits. Intentionally. Powerfully.
In her book Wintering, Katherine May writes that these fallow periods are "a normal and necessary part of life's cyclical nature." Wintering isn't failure---it's wisdom. It's the courage to embrace rest when life demands it.
Maybe you've spent years building---climbing ladders, expanding reach, saying yes to opportunities that proved your worth. You've created things that matter, developed skills that serve, earned recognition you once only dreamed of. You've earned your leaves. And maybe now you're being called to something that looks less impressive from the outside but feels more essential on the inside: the chance to stand bare for a season. To let roots go deeper instead of branches wider. To trust that visibility isn't the same as vitality.
The January Myth
Aren’t to sick to death of the New Year, New You, Fresh start? We don’t need to reinvent, relaunch, or transform into someone better than who you were on December 31st! (Besides, how can that happen overnight with the possibility of being hungover from NYE reverie?)
You're ready enough---right here, right now, in whatever season you're actually in?
The "New Year, New You" hustle suggests that who you are isn't sufficient. That you need radical transformation, aggressive goal-setting, complete reinvention. For those of us in winter, it's not just exhausting---it's dangerous. It asks us to deny what our system is telling us we need. What if January isn't about becoming someone new? What if it's about honoring exactly where you are---starting from the wisdom, capacity, and season you're actually in right now?
The question isn't "How do I become someone different?" It's "What season am I in, and how do I honor it?"
Is This Your Winter?
Maybe you're reading this in January, surrounded by messages about launching, expanding, and accelerating. Everyone around you seems to be sprinting forward. And you? You're feeling something different. Something quieter.
Here's what matters: not everyone is in the same season at the same time. The calendar might say January, but your internal landscape might be telling a completely different story.
You might be in winter if:
Good opportunities trigger "not now" instead of excitement
Your body is asking for less while your mind keeps performing
The thought of "visibility" makes you want to take a nap
🌱 You might be in spring if:
Small experiments feel energizing rather than overwhelming
Ideas are germinating, but pushing them forward feels premature
You're saying "maybe" more than "yes" or "no"
🌳 You might be in summer if:
You have energy to give and capacity to stretch
Visibility feels exciting rather than exhausting
You wake up with momentum rather than having to manufacture it
🍁 You might be in fall if:
You're completing cycles, not starting new ones
You want integration more than acquisition
You're asking "what stays?" not "what's next?"
The hustlers will tell you January means spring---time to plant, launch, grow. But what if you're in winter? What if the most strategic move available is honoring your actual season instead of performing someone else's timeline? You don't need to become new. You need to become honest about where you actually are.
Once You Know Your Season, Then What?
Here's what changes when you stop performing the wrong season:
WINTER: Your job isn't to force spring. Ask "What truly deserves my energy right now?" and protect that ruthlessly. Not everything you're capable of—just what you're called to tend. Winter asks for depth, not breadth.
SPRING: Give yourself permission to experiment without commitment. Plant seeds without demanding they all bloom. Spring is for exploration, for discovering what has natural energy.
SUMMER: Say yes to what excites you. Build, expand, be visible. This is your season for stretching. You have the reserves. Trust that.
FALL: Complete the cycles. Harvest the wisdom. Ask "what stays?" before "what's next?" Fall is about integrating what you've learned and gracefully releasing what didn't work.
The framework isn't about labeling yourself—it's about making different choices based on where you actually are.
What Wintering Makes Possible
Katherine May writes that "plants and animals don't fight the winter; they don't pretend it's not happening. They prepare. They adapt. They perform extraordinary acts of metamorphosis to get them through."
What if we did the same? What if winter isn't the season we endure until we can get back to "real life"---but the season that makes real life sustainable? Honoring winter might look like:
Working toward something rather than at everything. Winter asks: what truly deserves my energy right now? Not everything you're capable of, but what you're called to tend.
Trusting what you've already built. You've created systems, programs, offerings, knowledge. They exist. They can continue serving while you integrate and go deeper.
Resting on laurels without apology. Acknowledging how far you've come and pausing to integrate those lessons is strategic, not complacent.
Letting the next thing find you. Winter is receptive rather than acquisitive. The best opportunities often arrive when we're fully present, not frantically chasing visibility.
The Courage of the Bare Branch
Here's what takes decades to understand: It requires more courage to stand bare than to stay perpetually in bloom. Saying yes is easy when you're conditioned to prove worth through productivity. Saying no---especially to good things, especially when you're still capable---requires trusting that value doesn't depend on visible output.
That invitation was beautiful. France! London! Community! Growth! And there's a version of all of us that would say yes immediately, afraid that turning down opportunities means they'll stop coming.
But when you've learned to read the seasons of your own life? You know when it's winter. And winter, when honored, makes spring inevitable.
Going Beyond the Reframe
Outdated thinking: "It's January---I need to become a new, better version of myself or I'm wasting the momentum of a fresh start."
YOUR REFRAME: "It's January---and I'm already enough. The most strategic thing I can do is honor my actual season, not perform someone else's timeline."
The trees don't apologize for their winter. They don't hustle through it, desperately trying to prove they're still alive. They simply trust the process---and emerge more magnificent for having rested.
What if you did the same?
This Week's Practice
Name your season: Which description resonated most? Where are you actually at beneath the performance of productivity?
Honor it: What would change if you trusted that your season is exactly right, even if it doesn't match the calendar?
Release one "should": What are you doing because "it's January and I should" rather than because it aligns with your actual season?
Claim your enough-ness: Write it down. Say it out loud. "I am enough, exactly as I am, in the season I'm in."
The world needs your wisdom more than it needs your hustle. And wisdom comes from roots that grow deep, not branches that spread thin.
Next week: how to tell the difference between effort that forces and effort that flows. Because winter doesn't mean doing nothing---it means doing only what aligns.
Trusting the leafless season,
Andrea
Chief Reframing Officer @ Beyond the Reframe
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I'm Andrea Mein DeWitt—author, Professional Certified Coach, and self-proclaimed warrior in recovery. After 32 years in education, I transformed my career in my early 50s and now help high achievers stop forcing their way through life and start living it. I write from the San Francisco Bay Area, where I live with my husband Bill, our yellow lab Maggie, and a perfectionist inner critic I've learned to befriend (mostly)."
My book Name, Claim & Reframe: Your Path to a Well-Lived Life was featured on NBC's TODAY Show as 2023's best motivational read. The audiobook just dropped on Audible, because transformation shouldn't require sitting still.
