Autumn: Falling into a New Season Part 2

Looking at the trees outside, I noticed the colors change from green to brown, red, orange, and yellow. Trees that lose their leaves in the fall are deciduous. It is funny that we say these trees lose their leaves as if they are dying, but actually, they cut off their leaves. Deciduous trees get rid of their leaves to self-preserve during the winter season. The shedding process is called abscission. The trees stop making chlorophyll and reabsorb the chlorophyll from the leaves back into the tree. The trees produce a protection cell wall at the base of each leaf to prevent the loss of water and nutrients. The first layer below the leaf stem swells from absorbing the water, and the other layer is weakened cell walls that break apart, causing the leaf stem to get cut off.

A Time of Dormancy

The abscission process is the tree entering the stage of dormancy. Dormancy is when trees go into a rest period to conserve energy in cold temperatures. Trees lose water through their leaves, so losing their leaves helps them retain the water and nutrients needed to live through the winter.

Everything in nature is going through a resting period. The trees, the plants, the animals, and the bugs are entering a preparation and a period of rest. How does humankind fit into this equation?

A Period of Rest

When you look at nature, it is entering a period of rest. Rest does not always mean sleep. It means to be calm, at peace, at ease, to relax, to be quiet, and to be still.

I don’t know about you, but I tend to feel different in the fall and winter seasons. I tend to desire warmness, comfort at many levels, and a huge pull to slow down physically and mentally. However, I do not want to lose my routine of eating a raw plant-based diet, exercising daily, and being consistent with other responsibilities.

Balancing the two with a shift in your routine is the key to managing yourself through the fall and winter seasons. Please pivot your schedule when needed because you may have to play around with it before you find what works best for you. Also, consider that anything new added to your life automatically disrupts your schedule and throws it off, so you must readjust your current routine to accommodate the new.

Here are a few examples to personal my approach:

• Workout schedule may need to shift depending on the days or time of day.
• Explore other types of workouts and adjust workouts as needed.
• Go to bed earlier.
• Wake up earlier.
• Plan a percentage balance between warm, cooked, and raw plant-based meals to ensure I feel the best.
• Reduce my social media time to increase time with God and personal goals.
• Set healthy boundaries between myself and others.
• Create stricter work/life balance boundaries.
• Adjust my work schedules accordingly, if needed.
• Eat more fresh fruit vs drinking smoothies.
• Drink 1-2 cups of warm herbal tea.
• Drink plenty of water throughout the day.
• Open the windows in the AM for sunlight & natural light.
• Schedule my day using my GoGirl Weekly Schedule Planner.
• Use my cube timers to stay on track with my time management.

Take mental notes throughout the day about how you feel during this time of year and why. Record what you notice so you have it to reference. This process of becoming self-aware will help you understand yourself more. It teaches you to team up with yourself and orchestrate an achievable plan rather than fight yourself and repeat the same old habits, expecting a different result.

Conclusion

Studying the trees and looking at nature will tell us much about ourselves. Be intentional and take those moments to reflect to see how the seasons affect your daily life mentally, physically, and emotionally. Be patient without yourself as you continue to dive deeper to grow into a better version of yourself.

Comment down below to share your thoughts. Be blessed.

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