Blog Post Seven

Fall, Reflection, Harvest Season

October 19, 2025

It’s mid October and the air is beginning to cool. The trees lose their leaves. The long, vibrant days have come and gone, and now as chilly nights approaches quicker each day, we are reminded of the darkness that will be greeting us in the season ahead. Fall is one of, if not my favorite season. The fiery colors of nature, in their final grand performance before the season of rest, scarcity, death. The cozy smells of apples, pumpkins, cinnamon. The childlike excitement for the approaching holiday seasons. Whether you like to decorate, party, dress up, or maybe just experience extra family time, fall has many small and large gifts to offer. I personally love fall because it is a cozy season, but there is still abundance, life, and energy. 

Fall is the season where we reap what we have sown earlier in the year. It is the time of year, where we see what our efforts in the more vibrant seasons have produced. We are not quite in the deep, quiet reflection of the middle of winter. But we can tangibly see the outcomes of the work we have done earlier in the year. For some, it could be an immense abundance; of money, friends, experiences, things. Like trees in late September that have too many apples to hold on to. Or maybe, for some, it wasn’t as successful of a year. Maybe we didn’t make the right choices earlier in the year to set us up for an abundant harvest season. For many different reasons. Maybe our own fault. Maybe not a fault of our own. 

But fall gives us the time to reflect on the fruits of our labor from the late springtime and summer seasons. To see how we set ourselves up for the year and the quieter seasons. 

What we did right. What we did wrong. 

Did we overcommit and produce more than we need, but are burnt out and exhausted? Maybe we put our energy into the wrong things, and we have a lot of stuff and fluff that we don’t need, but are still craving what we do need. Coming to a realization that our energy was not put into seeding what needed to be grown this past year….

I believe we all live in the cycles of nature, but sometimes these cycles are slightly harder to see in a regular 9-5, when there is more steadiness in life and routine. As a freelancer or business owner, you definitely see these seasonal changes more vastly. You know to expect that summer and fall are the busy seasons, and winter and spring are slower seasons. The deep work is done in the middle of winter to prepare for a new season. You emerge in the spring with new skills, techniques, business models, and client networks. Summer is when you begin to put all of these into effect, and fall is when you really can see and reflect clearly on how well you did as a freelancer or business owner over the past year. Then you return to winter, to go back into the deep work of fine-tuning and then again, to re-emerge, as it is an endless cycle of growth and evolution. The same cycle, but coming out more refined every year. Tedious yet rewarding over the long-run. 

Just as October is the harvest season in nature, it is also the busiest season as a freelancer. We are all giddy for the great abundance of this month.

So when I approached October of this year, I was ready to dive in and receive as many jobs that would come my way. Knowing that every past October was busy, full, and financially rewarding, I was confident that this one would be no different. But as October rolled around, it wasn’t slow per say, but definitely slower than I was used to. And this didn’t make sense because I am more skilled, more knowledgeable, and have a better network than any other year prior. 

And as reality didn’t meet my expectations, my confidence began to drop. Anxiety beginning to set in after a couple of days. And there was the realization that maybe I had done this to myself. Because I knew that the contacts were there… but my mindset had vastly changed this year. I don’t want to jump on the neverending hamster wheel of working just for work. Whose narrative was that anyways? I want to work on what gives me life, vibrancy, and passion. If not now, then it is helping me on the path to achieve that.

And that was huge to me this year. I don’t do what I do just for the money. I do it for the passion and commitment to a fulfilling, connected life.

My big goal this year was to narrow down where my focus and energy were going towards. In other words, I was working on saying no. Which is tough. Like really tough as a freelancer or business owner. Because in the beginning of the journey, you learn that you have to say yes to absolutely any opportunity that you can get your hands on. Doesn’t matter what it is. You need money and you need experience. But as I have been in this for a few years now, I am at a bit of a crossroads in my freelancing journey. I am in a place where I have many opportunities coming in, but I also don’t quite need to say yes to all of them. 

And that is a really tough cliff to jump off of as a freelancer. Because you are so used to scraping by or needing the money. So it is tough to say no to an opportunity that is paid. But this year, it was just an intuitive feeling that it was time for me to start pruning the excess in my life, and especially my professional life. I decided I needed to start saying no to the opportunities that are not moving me towards my greatest path. Opportunities where I don’t feel valued. That aren’t paid what I believe I am worth. That aren’t in alignment with my present skills and abilities. 

Money is money, and it can be made if you need it. It comes and goes, and ebbs and flows. Which I certainly know in this line of work. But time…. is my most valuable resource. Although I don’t believe you should cling to time like there is never enough, I think it is important that time is the one resource that is truly yours. You have the choice to use it to your advantage, or you can give it all away and let others dictate it. And I know that I am not willing to give my time away because of certain societal constructs that tell us how we are supposed to spend it. 

It’s our life anyways, isn’t it? 

I decided that I could take a job for the money, or I could spend that time, leveling up, learning the skills I need to be better, or networking with people that are in alignment with my passion. I won’t lie that money is valuable, but if there is no purpose behind it other than to get more of it, what really am I doing anyways? 

I think I’m learning to lead my life in a way that feels a bit foreign to me. Instead of money and scarcity led, I am refocusing on living a life that is led by passions and intuitions. So what feels right? What do I want to do? What gives me vibrancy and connection? And how can I serve the world with my unique gifts? And just trusting that the money will follow if I live a life that I value, work hard, and share with the world my personal innate gifts. And I think if we all did this, the world could be a little brighter for everyone.

Going into the fall season, I worked hard to start narrowing down what I would give my time to. And really thinking before jumping on any opportunity. Which was a little scary. Maybe a lot scary. But then came the second week of October and bigger opportunities started to trickle in, and it was some confirmation from the universe saying that I was doing the right thing. That saying no to what you don’t want in your life, can be almost more powerful than saying yes. Because then you are in charge of the direction of your life. Because do we really have that much control over the opportunities that are brought into our lives?

 It is more about what we decide not to take than taking anything that passes by. That’s how we show our value to ourselves and the world. Knowing what will not serve our highest purpose and sense of personal fulfillment.

And when I realized that when I turned away from the opportunities that weren’t serving me, if I just held out a little longer than my fear felt comfortable with, an opportunity far better, more fulfilling and more exciting would come to greet me.

And so this October, I expected to see the abundance of the years prior, when I said yes to everything and took every opportunity. Many that were underpaid and where I felt undervalued, but it didn’t matter. I needed that experience, the lessons, and to build my skills. But this October, I arrived with a bit more maturity. Yes, maybe it isn’t as crazy busy as past years, but the jobs I am doing are more advanced, better paid, and I feel more valued doing them. Plus, I am less burnt out and have greater clarity on my life. So when I put the pieces together, I realized I was doing the right thing, it just looks a little different than before. Not because I was failing or making the wrong decisions, but because of my growth in perspective. I had learned the power of no, and how to sow the seeds that lead to opportunities that are personally more in line with me, my life, and my individual passions.