When the Seasons Shift: Finding Resilience in the Seasons of Change

Here in Minnesota, we rolled into September with this gorgeous, picture-perfect long weekend. Warm air, blue skies, and the kind of days you hope for in summer.

And then, the very next day, the temps dropped. I could smell my neighbor’s wood-burning fireplace and by Friday, with the high stuck below 60F (15C for my friends outside the US), I was making my first soup of the season. Lentil vegetable. The kind that tastes better the longer it simmers.

Don’t get me wrong, I love fall. But if I’m being honest? I wasn’t ready. I’m not ready. Fall means saying goodbye to the ease and lightness of summer. And it means winter is coming. And my goodness, even as a Minnesota native, I am never one to look forward to that.

Seasons of Change (easier said than done)

That’s the thing about change: it never waits for us to feel ready. One day you’re diligently watering tomato plants so they don’t wilt in the heat, the next you’re quickly pulling them to save from a possible overnight freeze. (Or maybe that’s just me?)

My tomato plants holding out for a little more summer before the season ends.

All that to say, even when we know change is coming — the stuff we plan for — it still knocks us off balance. It disrupts the rhythm. And that weird in-between space? Where you’re not where you were, but not fully where you’re going yet? Yeah. That’s uncomfortable.

The Gift Hidden in Seasons of Change

Transitions have their own kind of beauty. They remind us that we can adapt. That we can stir up soup on a chilly Friday even if we’re missing summer. That we can find new rhythms when the old ones don’t work anymore.

It’s my favorite thing about humans: we’re incredibly resilient. Change doesn’t ask for permission. But it does leave us with a choice– how are we going to respond?

An Invitation

So if you’re moving through your own season of change— in work, in leadership, in life— maybe just pause and notice both pieces: what feels uncomfortable and what might be opening up. What new thing might be simmering quietly in the background?

Because we don’t get to control when the season shifts. But we do get to decide how we show up in them.

I’d love to hear: what transition are you in the middle of right now? Share it in the comments — or just take a quiet moment to name it for yourself. Both count.

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I write about leadership, company culture, and change here at Culturability Consulting — because work is always in transition too.