The Seasons Within: What My Cycle Taught Me About Creativity, Rest, and Trust
A reflection on learning to notice the patterns in my cycle and how they shape my energy, focus, and creativity. It’s about the shift that happens when you stop pushing through every day the same way, and start working with the natural rhythms of your body instead.
MUSINGS
5 min read
The Productivity Secret Nobody Told Me
One of the biggest things I wish I had understood when I was younger was just how important the female cycle is.
Not just physically, but emotionally, mentally, creatively, and energetically.
For years, I ignored my body's signals. I pushed through fatigue, worked when I needed rest, and expected myself to perform at the same level every single day of the month. Eventually, it would catch up with me. I'd burn out, and when I burned out, I burned out hard.
My nervous system would simply shut down.
Nothing would get done. Not the important things. Not the little things. Sometimes I'd spend weeks trying to recover. Then came the spiral of shame, self-criticism, and sometimes depression, as I wondered why I couldn't seem to function the way everyone else did.
Why can't I just get things done? What's wrong with me? Why does everyone else seem to manage?
It wasn't until my mid-thirties that I began paying close attention to my cycle and the patterns within it.
What I discovered changed everything.
It wasn't until my mid-thirties that I began paying close attention to my cycle and the patterns within it.
What I discovered changed everything.
It didn't happen overnight.
It took time, practice, and a great deal of self-awareness to understand my own rhythm. Years of noticing patterns, tracking my energy, paying attention to my moods, and learning when to lean in and when to pull back. There was plenty of trial and error along the way.
Slowly, I began to understand something important: my body wasn't working against me. It was communicating with me.
I just hadn't been listening.
The more I paid attention, the more I began to recognise the different seasons within my month. Times for creating. Times for doing. Times for feeling. Times for clearing and completing. And times for resting.
Not someone else's rhythm.
Mine.
And once I stopped expecting myself to operate the same way every day of the month, everything started to make a little more sense. There was more flow and ease in my daily life.
I stopped trying to force the same productivity every day and started working with my body's natural rhythm instead.
The Season of Clarity and Creation
The weeks after my menstrual bleed are often my clearest and most creative.
I feel calmer, more grounded, and more open to ideas. Writing flows more easily. Inspiration arrives without effort. I can focus for longer periods and make steady progress toward my goals.
This is when I tend to pour energy into my blog, personal projects, learning, and creating. The work feels enjoyable. It feels natural. It feels like I'm moving with the current rather than against it.
The Season of Doing
Then comes a period of higher energy.
I feel more outward-facing, motivated, and social. I want to get things done, connect with people, and take action. It's often a wonderful time for meetings, outings, planning, and putting ideas into motion.
There is a confidence during this phase. A willingness to step forward and engage with the world.
When I know this energy is available to me, I make the most of it.
The Season of Feeling
As my cycle shifts again, I become more emotional and sensitive.
A movie, a memory, an old photograph, or a story about an animal can have me reaching for the tissues.
Years ago, I would have seen this as a weakness.
Now I see it differently.
It's a reminder that I'm deeply connected to my feelings, my memories, and the people I love.
This phase often invites me inward. It asks me to pay attention to what needs tending emotionally rather than charging ahead with another task on the to-do list.
The Season of Clearing and Completing
Toward the end of my cycle, my focus becomes fuzzier and more scattered. Concentrating on complex work feels harder.
Rather than fighting that reality, I've learned to redirect my energy.
This is when I clean.
I tidy cupboards, sort paperwork, pull weeds, organise shelves, and finish loose ends. Over a few days, the house becomes spotless.
I'm also more irritable during this phase, and I've found that physical tasks provide a healthy outlet for that restless energy. There's something deeply satisfying about seeing tangible results at the end of the day.
I've also learned not to make major decisions during this time. If I find myself ruminating, catastrophising, or becoming fixated on something, I pause before attaching too much meaning to it. More often than not, I know my hormones are colouring the experience.
The Season of Rest
Then comes the call to rest.
My body feels heavier. My energy drops. I feel the tension in my lower back and an ache in my sacral area. The desire to achieve, create, and push forward fades into the background.
And that's okay.
I've stopped treating this phase as a problem to solve, or an inconvenience in my life. I've stopped taking Panadol/Neurofen to get me through just to be "productive".
For a few days, I let myself step back. The goals can wait. The projects can wait. I focus on caring for myself, supporting my children, and honouring the quieter rhythm my body is asking for.
Rest is not a reward for being productive.
Rest is part of the rhythm.
Learning to Trust My Own Rhythm
The biggest lesson I've learned at 43 is that productivity isn't one-size-fits-all.
We live in a world that often celebrates constant output, consistency, and pushing harder. But many women are moving through an entirely different rhythm—one that changes week by week, not just day by day.
Our bodies carry a wisdom that can't always be measured by planners, productivity systems, or perfectly colour-coded calendars.
When we learn to listen, really listen, we begin to notice that each phase of the cycle offers its own gifts.
There are seasons for creating.
Seasons for doing.
Seasons for organising.
Seasons for feeling.
And seasons for resting.
None of them are wrong. None of them need fixing.
The more I've learned to honour these rhythms, the less life feels like a battle and the more it feels like a dance. There's a sense of ease that comes from working with yourself rather than constantly trying to overcome yourself.
I've found that intuition plays a huge role in this. Listening to the body. Paying attention to energy levels. Trusting what feels right instead of what the world says I should be doing.
For me, this has been one of the most unexpected productivity hacks of all—not squeezing more into each day, but learning when to create, when to act, when to tidy, and when to rest.
The result hasn't been less productivity.
It's been more ease.
More creativity.
More self-compassion.
A deeper love and respect for my body.
And a much deeper trust in the natural rhythm of my own life.
A Few Gentle Questions to Reflect On
If you'd like to explore your own rhythms, perhaps take a few quiet moments with your journal and reflect on the following:
When during the month do I feel most creative, inspired, and mentally clear?
When do I naturally feel drawn to action, socialising, or getting things done?
What signs does my body give me when it needs rest?
Which parts of my cycle do I tend to resist or judge?
How might my life change if I stopped fighting those phases and started honouring them?
What activities feel most nourishing during different times of my month?
When do I feel most connected to my intuition?
What expectations am I carrying about productivity that may not actually belong to me?
How would it feel to trust my body's wisdom a little more?
If my cycle could speak, what might it be trying to teach me right now?
Perhaps the greatest act of self-care isn't learning how to do more.
Perhaps it's learning how to listen.
And trusting that your body has a deep wisdom within.
Wishing you a life lived in rhythm with your body, your intuition, and the seasons within.✨
— Gwen x
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