3 Keys to a Tailored Life: Seasons

Welcome to Part 2 of our 3 part series of Keys to a Tailored Life! In this post we are talking about Seasons. How to figure out what season you are in and why understanding your season is so important to tailor your life to fit you to live more present with purpose.

Why is Knowing Your Season Important?

Understanding your seasons is SOOO important to living present with purpose and it’s something that gets overlooked easily. Often, we don’t stop long enough to really assess our season and figure out how to embrace it and live it well.

We spend so much time looking back, wishing for seasons that have passed that we didn’t appreciate while we were in the middle of them, or wishing away the season we are in and looking forward to a different season instead of settling and leaning into where we are.

When you assess your season, figure out what is unique to it, decide what’s important, and what you can let go of, THEN you are able to really embrace it.

But let’s just admit that some seasons are really HARD. It can be difficult to find something to enjoy or be grateful for in the midst of it but there is always something good you can focus on even if it’s small.

The cool thing is that what we focus on grows bigger and the other stuff grows smaller, so it’s really worth taking an impartial look at your season to evaluate it and find those things.

Brian Tracy says, “The law of concentration states that whatever you dwell upon grows. The more you think about something, the more it becomes part of your reality.”

Changing your mindset, really can change how you are experiencing your life.

For those of you with green personalities who like the science behind it, here’s a good article.

What Does Tailoring to Fit Your Season Look Like?

When you are assessing what you need to do to tailor your life to fit better, you start with your Personality (which we talked about in the 1st Key post), and then move on to the Season which can change very quickly.

That’s why I created the 7 Simple Steps to Embracing Your Season printable to help you evaluate it. I try to do this myself at least every 3 or 4 months, but more often if I feel like suddenly something just isn’t working well for me anymore.

The printable is designed to be used again and again as things change and we need to figure out what happened and make those adjustments.

If you have kids for example, you know how they grow and develop so quickly that as mothers we feel like we just get into a groove and suddenly everything changes and we have to figure it all out again! (which we do! Lol)

There are MACRO seasons and MICRO seasons, so for example, you may be in a macro season of young children, but a micro season of your baby crawling everywhere and starting to get into things. And going from an immobile baby to a mobile one can create a lot of challenges that can be super frustrating if we don’t make adjustments.

Knowing your season and having sorted out your priorities, limitations, and things to put down for now will help you craft strategies and solutions to current challenges, and give you a lens for filtering other decisions that come up.

For example, if you know that your baby’s sleep schedule is really important for them and you and your mental sanity, then you don’t have to go back and forth when someone invites you to do something during their nap or bedtime. You already have a filter in place and it’s one less decision you have to make.

Or if you are in a season where one of your limitations is finances, then maybe instead of getting a gym membership, you rent yoga DVD’s from the library, or get a friend to go walking or hiking with, or find someone with a pool who will let you come and swim.

There are so many ways and areas you can apply your Season filter to embrace where you are at and create a better fitting life.

The printable comes with a checklist with the steps but also journaling pages to help walk you through figuring it out. Grab it at the bottom of the post!

How to Apply It:

Season Starter Steps:

What is your macro season? Single, Newly married, parents with babies, young kids, teenagers, empty nester, WAHM, SAHM, etc..
What is your micro season? Think about the smaller details: kid’s stages, going to school, working a night shift, sickness, moving, starting a new business, etc…
What are some of the effects of these seasons? Decreased mental capacity because of newborn season? Emotional overload? Increased responsibilities? Limited time, etc….
What are some things you don’t want to miss during this season? Good things to appreciate and enjoy? New babies, having conversations with your five year old, being able to go where you want, when you want in a singles season, enjoying time with your spouse before you have kids, extra time with your mother before you/she move out, etc…
How might you adjust and “tailor” your life around these things? Are there small changes you can make that will make life easier? Rearranging your schedule so your other kids are occupied while the baby is napping so you can have some time to yourself, or having breakfast be the meal that your family is all together for because your husband is on the night shift and gone during dinner time, etc…
What are some things you can cut out or need to lay down this season? Some you may want to and be able to pick up again in a different season, but they just don’t fit in this one.

Assessing your season and tailoring your life to really embrace and enjoy it can make a big difference! And now that we have our filters for personality and season, we can move on to the Third Key to a Tailored Life!