Walking through the wooded path for a daily school run, my mind on the meeting that just concluded, conscious that I’m running slightly late on a day where all the meetings just ran a minute or two over (eventually leading to me leaving 10 minutes late for school pick-up!) I start to speed up, my thoughts moving to the to do list that needs attention once I get back home. As I get further into the trees, I begin to notice the crunch of leaves beneath my feet, the smell of autumn, the vibrant reds, oranges, yellows and greens breaking through my thoughts. Suddenly, I am no longer thinking about meetings and to-do lists but breathing in the fresh air and noticing the signs of the changing season all around me. Watching the leaves fall, changing the colours of the landscape, a memory is triggered of something I had once read, about trees, and why the leaves change colour and fall off the branches. 

Many authors equate Autumn and Winter to death, yet in actual fact, the trees are preparing themselves for a time where they won’t have as much light in order to make their own nutrition. So, to preserve their energies for growth when the days become longer once more, they reclaim valuable nutrients from the leaves and store them. The leaves are then shed to ensure the tree survives the darker, less sunnier winter days.

Just like trees, we also experience transitions at different stages in our lives. Some are natural, like puberty, adulthood, parenthood, and menopause. And others we choose, like moving away from home, changing careers, etc. And then there are some that we can’t control, like the loss of a loved one, a redundancy, or a major illness. It’s from the transitions that occur naturally (both to us and around us) that we can learn ways in which to manage ourselves for the transitions that are unexpected, or harder to achieve than we believed them to be. 

It’s in these moments that we learn how to move out of our comfort zone, away from our fear zone and into the learning and growth zone. If the tree didn’t shed its leaves for winter, what impact would that have on its bark, branches, roots, would it become weaker? 

Consider your mental load on any given day, it’s mainly controlled by your to-do list and your responsibilities. When more is added to it, do you become energised to take action? 

By analysing your priorities, shedding what is not needed or important, postponing things that are not urgent, you allow yourself to preserve your energy and focus on what is necessary and in your control. What impact will lightening your mental load, vs adding to it, have on you as you experience change?

It goes against our instinct to change the status quo, to consider that what serves me now may not serve me during the transition. As with anything that gets heavier, it becomes harder to carry, even move. Staying stuck becomes more comfortable than figuring out what to let go. 

Leaving what feels comfortable is a leap of faith. The same faith the tree has. It knows that more leaves will grow in the Spring. This faith requires you to have a combination of hope, resilience and grit. 

As a Mindset Coach (and Career Coach at FourthRev), I work with people to empower them to feel hopeful, persevere through the difficult moments of a stressful transition period, whether they are career related or life related. I start with where you are in the present and help you push through the fear zone into the learning zone, helping you let go of your leaves and conserve energy. So that in the Spring you can walk into the growth zone with bright green leaves.