Sacred Ground: The Season of Change

Men's Mental HealthMental HealthEmotional WellnessEmotional IntelligenceAnger Management

Sep 28

Last week, we talked about flowing with the season of change.

This week: What do you do when the world wants you to speed up but your soul needs to slow down?

It's almost Q4. Everywhere you look, the message is the same: rev up, push harder, finish strong. Black Friday sales, end-of-year goals, holiday hustle. The cultural pressure to accelerate is everywhere.

Meanwhile, the days are getting shorter. Your body wants more sleep. Something deep inside you is asking for stillness, for candlelight, for the kind of rest that actually restores instead of just distracts.

This isn't laziness. This is wisdom.

The Story

2015.I was working for United Allergy Services, doing immunotherapy and shots for kids and adults. Corporate medical world. Every quarter, the pressure ramped up: get the numbers higher, market more, do whatever it takes to hit targets.

At first, I played the game. There were bonuses for hitting goals, competitions between locations. I thought I could handle the pace, maybe even thrive on it.

And for a while, it looked like I was right. I became Employee of the Year out of over 3,000 people. Top 3 performer in the company for two years running. By every metric that mattered to them, I was crushing it.

My body had other plans.

I'd come home short-tempered with my wife. Fall asleep watching TV at 7 PM. Lyme disease would flare up - rashes, digestive issues, brain fog. I was literally getting sick from trying to keep up with Q4 culture.

My mind wanted to push through, prove I could handle it. My nervous system was screaming for me to stop.

The decision got made for me in December 2015 when they laid me off right before Christmas. At first, I panicked. No job, no income, holidays coming. But something strange happened when I was forced to slow down.

I had to feel everything I'd been pushing through. The reservoir of unmet emotions, the exhaustion I'd been ignoring, the illness my body had been trying to signal for months.

It got worse before it got better. When you finally stop running, you feel how tired you actually are.

But then something shifted. I started taking walks on trails instead of rushing through lunch breaks. Saunas for detox instead of energy drinks. Baths, meditation, breathing practices - things that felt "unproductive" but actually restored me.

For the first time, I realized the difference between being busy and being alive.

That experience taught me something I carry into every season now: when your body says slow down, it's not weakness - it's wisdom your nervous system has that your mind doesn't.

What I've Learned

Most men I work with are terrified of slowing down. They think if they pause, they'll lose momentum forever. If they honor their need for rest, they'll become lazy and weak.

But here's what I've discovered: the sacred pause isn't the absence of power - it's where power is cultivated.

Think about it. Animals don't fight winter - they work with it. Bears don't apologize for hibernating. Trees don't feel guilty for dropping their leaves. They understand something we've forgotten: there are seasons for expansion and seasons for conservation.

Right now, while everyone else is burning themselves out trying to "finish strong," you have the opportunity to do something radical: honor your natural rhythm.

This doesn't mean checking out or giving up. It means recognizing that sustainable strength requires cycles of gathering and releasing, doing and being, light and darkness.

When you ignore these seasonal cues, you invite depression, numbness, and that constant anxiety that whispers "it's always going to feel this demanding." When you honor them, you discover that rest isn't weakness - it's strategy.

The men who understand this become more discerning, less willing to waste energy on what doesn't matter. They develop what I call "sacred boundaries" - not walls, but a clear sense of what feeds their soul versus what drains it.

Practice: The Evening Energy Return

This week, we're practicing the art of calling your energy back to yourself.

Step 1: Choose Your Time Pick the same time each evening this week - ideally as the sun sets or just after. This works with your natural circadian rhythm instead of against it.

Step 2: Create Sacred Space Light a single candle. Turn off overhead lights. Sit somewhere comfortable where you won't be interrupted for 15 minutes. If you have incense, sage, or palo santo, light that too.

Step 3: The Energy Inventory Close your eyes and ask: "Where did I leave pieces of myself today?" Notice what comes up - difficult conversations, work stress, family tensions, social media scrolling.

Step 4: Call It Back With each exhale, imagine pulling your energy back from those places. You might say quietly: "I call my energy back from [specific situation]. That's not mine to carry."

Step 5: The Protection Practice Place your hands on your chest. Breathe deeply and imagine drawing all your scattered energy into your core, like pulling light into your heart. Feel yourself becoming whole and complete.

Step 6: Set Tomorrow's Intention Before blowing out the candle, ask: "What does my soul need tomorrow?" Not your schedule, not your obligations - your soul. Trust whatever arises.

Step 7: Close the Practice Blow out the candle and say: "I honor this sacred pause. I am home."

Why this works: In our scattered, always-on world, most men leak energy all day without realizing it. This practice teaches you to become whole again each evening, so you wake up from your center instead of your anxiety.