A More Natural Way to Plan Your Spring (Without the Pressure to Reset)
- Tricia at Everlea Journal
- 13 hours ago
- 2 min read
What Our Grandmothers Knew About Spring Energy
Our grandmothers understood spring energy in a way we are only just starting to remember. Modern life asks us to treat spring like a starting line - productivity systems, checklists and a sense of urgency that everything must be done.
But this is not Spring.
Spring comes with a gradual return. The weather starts and then stops, its warm and sunny one day, then cold and snowy or windy the next. This older, gentler rhythm was the one our grandmothers lived by. Spring was not for becoming entirely new; it was for becoming awake again.
They Followed Energy, Not Expectations
There was an instinctive understanding that energy shifts in layers. Early spring wasn’t for full days and full schedules. It was for small returns like opening the windows, even just a crack, or beginning…but only just.
This is what we might now call infradian living—moving with cycles longer than a single day. But they didn’t need a name for it, they simply just noticed. Some days held more energy than others, while some weeks asked for rest. And they listened.
They Knew When to Begin (and When Not To)
Today, we often collapse tasks into a single moment instead of honouring the season. There is the weekend reset, the complete overhaul, or the sudden transformation. But the older way trusted timing; it understood that energy builds best when it isn’t forced.
The kind of energy our grandmothers understood was lighter than the expectations of fresh starts. It was hopeful, and it allowed for slow mornings and half finished plans. It also allowed for changing direction and beginning again (more than once). Spring wasn’t a productivity hack, it was a reawakening.
A Gentle Return to That Wisdom
I think this is still possible today. Even though don’t have full control over our working hours, we can shape our home life. If you pay attention, you’ll start to notice it - energy arriving in waves, not all at once. Motivation that grows instead of appearing suddenly, and a rhythm that feels less like effort and more like alignment.
Instead of a complete overhaul, make a list of the things you want to get done this spring and then leave it at that. If there is something on the list that you don’t feel ready to begin, skip it and do what calls to you instead. And to keep yourself accountable set a deadline. For example, you could write your spring list in March and then give yourself until the end of April to complete it. If you haven’t finished the list by then, it simply becomes time to gather your energy and follow through so that you can move on. Think of it as a kind of hybrid approach: where you respect the season and follow your energy, while still putting a (generous) time limit on it so that nothing is left behind.
Our grandmothers knew something we’re only beginning to understand again - you don’t have to optimize the season to enjoy the season. (And if you’re learning to live this way, there’s more waiting for you in Through the Seasons with Everlea - Spring.)
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