Embracing Health in Every Season
The coming of winter in the Midwest is foreboding in a way that I haven’t experienced anywhere else. As the skies darken, everything becomes an omen of the cold months to come. Each cat is black, and every mirror seems broken. It inspires the kind of primal fear you feel turning off the light in your basement or taking out the garbage in the dark.
After two winterless years in San Francisco and a springtime move to Chicago, this hits me especially hard as the city goes gray. But instead of giving in to dread (tempting), I find myself excited to watch the seasons change, to live with the weather—which, in the current moment means staying inside at all costs, but in not too much time will mean jumping in the lake.
The transition between seasons carries a unique weight, a palpable shift that we feel in the air and see in the world around us. These changes are more than just a topic of conversation; they often correlate with shifts in individual health needs. The darkening skies of late autumn can signal more than just colder weather; they can herald the start of flu season, an increase in seasonal affective disorder, and a general turning inward for communities.
I’m reminded of a staple of my childhood, the Byrds song “Turn! Turn! Turn!”, which adopts a portion of Ecclesiastes:
To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.
Each season carries with it certain activities and feelings, as well as distinct challenges and opportunities for health and wellness. Though it is never fun to wake up in a bad mood because you’ve forgotten what the sun looks like, I think it is a somewhat magical remnant of the past that somewhere deep in our bodies, many of us still feel in tune with the seasons. Those feelings can help us seek something different in every part of the year, to go out or to stay in; to grow or to prune back. The natural cycles of the earth help us balance these impulses. Each season holds opportunity.
Spring brings fresh life and the energy that comes with it, an opportunity to sow the ground and plan next steps. Summer offers growth and maturity, a chance to try new things. Fall is the time of harvest, where we turn inward, reflect, and gather lessons learned. In winter, finally, we trim, get rid of the unnecessary, rest, and enjoy the beauty of bare branches against the sky.
Finding Agency in a Complex System
Welcoming change does not mean just accepting the trends that are already happening; that is tantamount to giving up control. In times like this, I think it is appropriate to put on our berets and black turtlenecks and turn to philosophy, the philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre described a concept called “bad faith.” When you are acting under bad faith, you deny your own ability to make choices and imagine that everything is decided for you by other people or the circumstances of your life. In a healthcare context, this might sound like, “I can’t eat healthy because I don’t have time,” or “There’s no point in exercising because I have a family history of heart disease.”
What is most important is recognizing our freedom to choose: the ability all of us have to accept the consequences of our actions, whatever they may be. When we see the world as out of our control, we are more likely to do nothing, and freezing has its own consequences. Understanding that we are in the driver’s seat—whether we are in a Mini Cooper or a semi-truck—gives us courage to make our own choices.
Embracing Health in Every Season
One of the most powerful ways we can exercise this agency is by choosing to live in harmony with the natural world. We are healthiest when we live with the seasons. Eating foods that are in season means eating what is fresh and ready. Experiencing the changes in nature is most rewarding when we’re active outside, on skis or flip-flops. Marking the passage of time together with holidays is one of the most universal and longest-standing human traditions for good reason.
At the start of a new year, the unknown arc of the next twelve months stretching out before us can fill us with dread alongside the excitement, compounded by resolutions that may or may not survive January. But instead of holding the entire year in our mind, perhaps we can imagine each season, and how we can embrace health with the cycles of nature.
- In the spring, we can plan for our health, schedule annual checkups, and get on top of our preventative care for the year. This is an opportunity to sow the seeds of long-term health.
- In the summer, we can make the most of the long, light-filled days outside by prioritizing exercise. This is the time to discuss sun safety, hydration, and preventing activity-related injuries. It’s a chance for us to build strength and resilience.
- In the fall, when we are good and hungry, we can reap the reward of all the sun’s work by focusing on eating healthy, fresh, seasonal meals. It’s also a time for introspection, making it ideal for mental health check-ins and discussions about stress management before the busy holiday period begins.
- In the winter, when the cooling weather drives us inside, let it bring us together, keeping our calendars full and our brains healthy. Having good social connections to combat isolation is important, and assists us in controlling and managing the “winter blues”.
There is no denying that change is in the air. Things are in flux, and while medicine is risk-averse, it is important to remember that fluidity holds opportunity alongside danger. When we mark the passage of time with health-focused milestones, we create a structure for ongoing wellness. The small, manageable steps we take right now, help us embrace our health, and helps lead us to a healthier life tomorrow.
It will not always be winter, there will once again be a time to plant, to embrace, to laugh and to build. As we look towards spring, we can all start to imagine our part. The shifts of the seasons are small, gradual ones; but it is with these slight movements that the earth spins. Let the things we can control in our lives empower us, and let each time have a purpose.
Written by Seth Husney
