Change of Season

If you are in Australia, you know that many of us have just lost daylight savings, meaning the change of seasons is feeling very real.

We are welcoming Autumn and beginning to see the changes in nature starting to occur around us.

It might be the beautiful fall colours - the yellow, red and amber in the trees around you. The crackle of the fallen leaves on the ground. The bulbs are waking up and sharing their unexpected vibrancy. The crisp and refreshing chill in the air.

But studies have shown what we already sort of know. The change of seasons can negatively affect us. There are impacts on our mood and sleep patterns, decreased metabolism and immunity, and it can play havoc with our memory and attention. 

Understanding the potentially negative impacts on our minds and bodies got me thinking. What does this mean for employees already suffering from a pandemic hangover?

While I hate to keep banging on about this, we need to take care of ourselves and be compassionate and patient with others.

Winter is coming. For me, this will mean getting up out of my snuggly warm bed and into the cold and dark house to exercise and write will be that much harder. 

I am loathed to lose the good habits I have worked hard at, so I am thinking about the structural things I can do to avoid a dip in motivation. I am looking at some minor tweaks that will help me.

How do I change the environment to make the things that sustain my energy and good mood more enticing? Especially my morning habits of exercise, meditation, writing and good nutrition.

 > ONE THING I will try is to set the timer on the heater to warm my exercise and writing space shortly before I am due to get up. I know I will feel guilty if that warmth is not being used.

If there is a potential that I am going to be sleepier, sadder, have poorer metabolism and find it harder to maintain attention and memory, I'll need all the help I can get.