Hello love,
Okay, let’s get this over with. No, I wasn’t hibernating (technically); no, I wasn’t off on some Eat, Pray, Love adventure (though, wouldn’t that be nice?); and yes, I’ve been honoring my own winter life season—pulling inward, creating deeply, and preparing to bring new energy your way.
“Okay, let’s get this over with. No, I’m not seasick; no, I didn’t eat grass as a child; and yes, I’ve always been green.” - Elphaba, from Wicked
Hey babe, it’s been a minute, hasn’t it? (okay, like a year!). It feels so good to be connecting with you again! And for the new faces, hi!!! and welcome.
For the last two years, I’ve been in an inner Fall and Winter.
Energetically, the Earth season of fall is a time of release + shedding with the leaves falling from the trees. And winter energetically represents a time of stillness and space -- where those shed leaves break down and eventually provide the fertile ground that nourishes spring, and serves as a synergist for fueling the abundance + action of summer.
So when I say that I’ve been in an inner fall + winter - I mean that I’ve been working to deconstruct (shed) everything in my life that’s been a barrier to my fullest expression, my higher purpose and most of all, my joy and satisfaction in life. This has included periods of deep reflection and sitting in "the void" - a space of uncertainty (inner darkness, like the womb) and not knowing what’s next. Which, by the way, is a very challenging thing for this action-oriented Aries to partake in, ha ha. But I don't think I'm alone in that discomfort.
In so many ways, this put a pause on most of the “outward” elements of my business - the Spring and Summer energies of creating, planning, producing and “being seen” in spaces like social media or even this newsletter. It involved basically every facet of my life, including my marriage, my health (getting super sick for 6 months), moving to a new hometown, big changes socially + in friendships, and learning to rewire my nervous system.
Although definitely divinely timed, being in this space was not "intentional". And the beauty of it all didn’t start to emerge until I actually surrendered to the process (versus continuing to fight it, which I’d been doing for a loooong time). Just like we can’t stop Earth seasons from coming, inner life seasons are also inevitable.
Our modern society calls everyone to be in a perpetual summer - constantly growing, creating and producing more, being in a state of non-stop action and “doing.” But the truth is, we’re just not biologically hard-wired to operate like that. It’s also not a sustainable model for abundance or vitality. And even though I teach + walk this path, I wasn't immune from the truth that when the body speaks, we must listen; for when we don't, she will begin to talk louder and eventually make us stop.
As a woman, your hormone cycles mirror the phases of the moon and seasons of the Earth - including both the menstrual cycle itself and the macro hormone seasons you travel through as a woman (as illustrated here in this condensed version of my Living Fully Wheel of Life).
Just like the Earth has four distinct seasons that make up a year, throughout our lifetime as a woman, we physiologically travel through four distinct macro hormone seasons, each of which last anywhere from four to forty+ years.
From puberty - when our female sex hormones come online,
To our cycling/reproductive years - where we're designed to have a regular, predictable menstrual cycle,
Through perimenopause - in which, menopause (your last period) is included,
And finishing with postmenopause - when those sex hormones decline and exist only in very small amounts.
Inside these macro hormone seasons, we have both your circadian rhythm - your 24/7 sleep-wake cycle (which mirror's the sun's cycle and a male's hormone cycle), and a distinctly female cycle called your infradian rhythm - aka, your menstrual cycle (which takes over as the primary driver of all physiological functions from puberty until postmenopause).
Your menstrual cycle energetically embodies the four seasons of the Earth (see image above). Length/time-wise, it mimics the moon's cycle (which is 29.5 days), as the average menstrual cycle length is 25-35 days.
It's also my belief and experience that we also traverse micro seasons throughout our life - like the inner fall and winter I described earlier. All of these are normal, and part of our innate blueprint as woman and humans.
Why am I telling you all this?
Because it's so important for you to understand that as a woman, you are designed to change and feel different daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, and throughout your lifetime. It's literally built into the fabric of your being - physiologically (hormonally), along with energetically + spiritually.
All of these macro + micro seasons, phases and cycles impact your lived experience, along with how you feel in your body and life. And when you understand that all these cycles naturally overlap, and when you have baseline knowledge of how your body works - both the scientific and the sacred pieces, it's so much easier to know that there's nothing wrong with you.
And I'm here to walk to path alongside you, committed to providing context for your experience so that you can not only find evidence-based solutions to support your amazing female body, but also to remind you that you're more than a body and the things you do. We're all spiritual beings, having a physical experience - and not all things can be explained, healed or changed through science either.
I am excited to show up more in this space again, and am so grateful that you're here. I'd love to know how this resonated with you. Shoot me an email: hello@whitneymack.com to share, and/or if you need more support on your journey. Xo. - W
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