Let's chat about how the physical seasons impact your self care.
Taylor Elyse Morrison: Hey there. Welcome back to Inner Warmup, where your inner work begins. My name is Taylor Elyse Morrison, founder of Inner Workout, and you, as always, are our expert guest.
For the next few months, we're looking at shifts and how they show up in our lives. And this month in particular, we're talking about seasonal shifts.
For me, personally, I'm really familiar with the changing of the seasons, I've actually only lived in places that have distinct seasons, I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, then I went to college in Nashville. And even the places that I studied abroad, Spain and South Africa, are pretty seasonal. So for me, seasons have always just been a given.
It's wild to me, when I visit parts of the West Coast or the Pacific Northwest, where people tell me that the shift of the physical seasons isn't as drastic for them. For me, these seasonal shifts are familiar. But it's only pretty recently that I've started noticing how seasonal shifts impact my own self care my own needs.
I also feel like when we start to talk about seasonal shifts, the conversation gets focused on SAD, seasonal affective disorder. And it gets kind of targeted in the winter, where I mean, it's a really real thing. I've felt it myself where the lack of sun can affect our mood and lead to us feeling pretty depressed and lethargic and out of it. Like I said, I've experienced that I see it as something that's a real thing. But I also wonder if we could start to zoom out and see how seasons affect us beyond just the winter months, if you're in a place that gets really cold and dark during the winter, too.
I'm recording this episode today, shortly after the spring equinox in the Northern Hemisphere. I'm based in Chicago, moved back to Chicago after graduating. And once again, I'm seeing my own shifts as we've moved from winter into spring. And I'm really curious to hear what you're noticing.
So for today's interview, I want to hear how do the seasons impact your self care needs? I can start. So like I said, it's springtime for me right now. And I'm actually dealing with allergies. I grew up with family members who had allergies. And it was something I avoided until I moved back to Chicago after graduating from college. And I started having like all of these weird symptoms that I thought was me getting sick. But it turns out it's allergies. And honestly, I'm still figuring out how to deal with it. I'm still figuring out how I support myself, physically during the spring. So that's a big thing for me in the spring is just noticing, oh my gosh, the flowers are gorgeous. And also, why are my eyes watery? And why am I really tired in in this way that doesn't just feel like it's going to be fixed by me going to bed earlier in the summer.
Another really practical thing that I noticed about myself care in the summer is that I really have to be in tune with my body. I have to drink more water than often I think that I need to because I'm already prone to migraines and summers in Chicago are hot. And I love being outside because I've got to soak up that sun to help me get through the winter. But if I'm not careful, I can just get a ton of migraines in the summer. In the fall, this one was interesting for me to reflect on. There's nothing specific that stands out to me during the fall in terms of self care needs, except the sense that there's always transitions that are happening. And I have to learn to be open to transitions.
It's really easy for me to feel like I've I get in these great self care routines and fall often has me turn inwards and ask is this still what I need, which is a different question than "Is this still what I want?" And so fall I have to sit in the tension of those two things. And then in winter, one of the biggest things is I consider myself a morning person, but in the winter I sleep in a lot later, and it's this invitation for me to move more slowly than I think that I need to. And just hibernate a little bit, enjoy the extra rest, enjoy the extra time at home and be a little slower and see how I benefit.
So that's me. That's how I see the seasons impacting my self care needs. And I could probably go in so much more detail about each one of these, but it's not really about my experience. It's about you.
And so now I'll pose the question to you. How do the seasons impact your self care needs?
Thanks for sharing your time and your expertise. I'd love to continue the conversation with you and in our workouts free community. See you next week.
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