Stop Expecting Summer Energy When You’re in a Winter Season

By 3 p.m., your body is begging for pajamas and silence.

Your brain, however, is screaming that you “should” be operating like your 21-year-old self on Monster Energy and all-nighters.

That tug-of-war is what burns you out—not just the work, but the belief that you’re supposed to be in a constant summer of motivation, output, and enthusiasm.

What if nothing is “wrong” with you…you’re just in the wrong season?

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1. The Myth of Endless Summer Energy

Most of us grew up on one story of productivity:

Real adults grind. They wake early, stay late, say yes, and somehow never run out of steam.

That story might have worked (barely) when life was simpler.

But now you’re balancing work, family, health issues, aging parents, phone notifications, and the invisible emotional labor of remembering everything for everyone.

Trying to live in a permanent “summer” of life—high heat, high growth, high output—becomes a slow form of self-erasure.

Your body starts whispering “no” long before your calendar does.

Self-care starts with admitting this: you’re not a machine. You’re seasonal.

2. Naming Your Season Lowers the Volume on Shame

Think of your creative and emotional life in four broad seasons:

• Spring – Curiosity returns. Ideas sprout everywhere. You start things.

• Summer – You’re in motion. Drafting, shipping, collaborating, saying “yes” more.

• Fall – You edit, refine, prune. You harvest what earlier you created.

• Winter – Your energy contracts. You want quiet. You crave rest and simple routines.

These aren’t medical labels. They’re language for patterns you already feel.

The simple act of saying, “I’m in a Winter season right now” changes the inner script.

Instead of “I’m failing,” it becomes “Of course I don’t have summer output—I’m in winter.”

That’s not an excuse. It’s an honest diagnosis of your energy.

3. What Winter Is Really Doing for You

Winter looks like failure on the surface:

• Brain fog, even after coffee.

• Resentment toward projects you used to enjoy.

• Shorter attention span and a magnetic pull toward the couch.

In reality, winter is what often shows up after a long period of over-functioning—too many late nights, too many “sure, I can do that,” too much pretending you have no limits.

Winter is your system hitting the brakes.

Not because you’re weak, but because constant output without recovery is unsustainable.

Just like athletes build rest days into their training, your nervous system needs phases where demand drops so repair can happen. Ignoring that cost is what keeps you in chronic burnout.

4. The Seasonal Sync Check-In (Self-Care Version)

You can’t force yourself into a different season with willpower.

But you can stop working against the one you’re in.

Try this 10–15 minute “Seasonal Sync” check-in:

Step 1 – Look honestly at the last few weeks.

Ask:

• Have ideas been flowing or stalling?

• Do I want to start things, finish things, or lie down?

• When I sit to work, do I feel spark, steady focus, or dread?

Pick the closest season: Spring, Summer, Fall, or Winter. Close enough is good enough.

Step 2 – Redefine what “success” means for this season.

• Spring: success = capturing messy ideas, not finishing anything.

• Summer: success = finishing one meaningful thing, not starting five.

• Fall: success = editing, repurposing, and tidying what already exists.

• Winter: success = lowering commitments, protecting sleep, and doing light maintenance work.

If you’re in winter but still judging yourself by summer standards, you will feel like a failure no matter what you do.

Step 3 – Match today’s tasks to today’s season.

• Winter: clear your digital desk, archive old tabs, answer a couple of low-stakes emails.

• Spring: free-write for 10 minutes, record a messy voice note, and brain-dump questions.

• Summer: block 30–60 minutes to ship one draft, one decision, or one deliverable.

• Fall: review one project and decide what to keep, cut, or combine.

Step 4 – Add one tiny recovery ritual.

No optimization. Just a signal of care.

• A short walk without your phone.

• Three slow breaths before opening your inbox.

• Reading two pages of a book before bed instead of scrolling.

You’re telling your system, “You’re allowed to step off the gas.”

5. Let Spring Come Back on Its Own

Eventually, you’ll feel little flickers of Spring again:

A random idea in the shower.

A gentle tug to open a blank doc.

A sense of “I kind of want to make something” instead of “I have to.”

That’s your cue—not to sprint, but to tiptoe.

Give yourself a small container (15–20 minutes) to explore one idea.

Stay in Spring a bit longer than feels efficient before charging into Summer-mode again.

This isn’t about giving up your goals.

It’s about changing the rhythm so you can still be here to enjoy them.

Action Steps (3–5 bullets or numbers):

1. Take 2 minutes and name your current season: Spring, Summer, Fall, or Winter.

2. Rewrite “success” for the next 7 days to match that season.

3. Choose 3 tasks that fit your season and delete or defer the ones that don’t.

4. Add one simple recovery ritual you can repeat daily without thinking too hard.

5. Revisit your season in two weeks and adjust, instead of assuming you’re “behind.”

If you stopped demanding summer output from a winter body and mind, what else in your life might finally start to feel kinder?

Hit reply and tell me which season you’re in right now—and what tiny recovery ritual you’re committing to this week. If this helped, forward it to one person who’s quietly burning out by mid-afternoon.

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