Leadership: Enjoy the seasons of life

We officially are entering a busy season.

Mid-spring is a time when we comfortably can enjoy outdoor activities. We might exercise outside; clean our yard after a cold, wet winter; or plant a garden.

For those with school-aged children, you might be enjoying events such as concerts and award ceremonies as the school year quickly ends.

It is safe to assume that your time is needed in greater demand doing activities that were not possible during the winter.

When my kids were younger, I often wished teachers would not cram so many activities in the last month of school. Couldn’t they plan better to evenly distribute activities throughout the other eight months? That would avoid the chaos and stress that torments the family during this final month.

However, that is like asking a farmer why they don’t plant their fields during the course of three months rather than three weeks. A farmer needs to get the seed into the ground in early spring so that the plants have time to grow during the warmer months. If they choose not to follow this plan, they will have nothing to harvest later in the fall.

Why do we expect our lives to be balanced when even the Earth does not have balance? The Earth’s axis is tilted, which causes different seasons. Let’s stop looking for balance and instead enjoy the seasons of life.

Authors Rory Vaden and John Maxwell discuss these life seasons in their books. We know that there is a time to be born and a time to die. Farmers also know there is a time to plant (springtime) and a time to harvest (autumn). Harvest time requires more work from the farmers than planting. If they do not provide more energy to their work in the busy season, the harvest will not provide for the family adequately.

Raising a family demands this unbalanced amount of energy during different age periods. The babies require our attention and resilience late at night. Young children need us to schedule their practices, games and concerts on our calendar so that they arrive at their events on time. Young adults need financial assistance to help them through the lean years of college.

As exhausting as the demands of parenthood are, they don’t last forever, just like the planting season for the farmers.

Yes, our time demands will be required again in the harvest season, and next year during the next planting season; however, there are moments of reprieve to feast on the harvest.

How can we better navigate the new season that is upon us?

Expect seasons in life. Planting and harvesting can be as much fun as rest and leisure.

Enjoy the change in seasons, the opportunity to never be bored.

Choose a positive attitude to create enjoyable memories for everyone involved. Or let your kids remember you as a grumpy parent.

Kathie Rotz is an executive leadership coach and speaker with Unity Consulting and the author of “You Have Superpowers” online learning program.