How To Make The Most Out Of Your Life’s Natural Rhythm

The biggest lesson I learned from growing plants.

I was eight years old when I first witnessed the miracle of life.

My class went on a forest trip and instead of being the obedient pupil my teacher hoped for, I set out on my own adventure. The detention was well worth it because I found a treasure invaluable to an eight-year-old — a pile of organic trash someone had dumped amidst the trees.

Next to empty eggshells, half-eaten grapefruits, and the lord of the flies, there was an emaciated cactus, which I carefully tucked in my bag.

Back at home, my grandma and I put the plant into a pot and after two weeks, it started to sprout.

The miracle of life.

20 years later, I’ve got a small jungle to tend to. Caring for plants is more than just watering — it means you’re responsible for another living being. You’re happy when they grow and sad when they die.

Juggling the right amount of water, fertilizer, and sunlight can get annoying. Cleaning your kitchen every time you re-pot them is a hassle. But seeing life develop fulfills you and teaches you a lesson other things can’t.

Your Life Unfolds in Chapters and Phases

Plants follow a natural rhythm, which is fascinating to observe.

Every year, they begin a new chapter, marked by the rings in a tree’s trunk. Your life consists of individual chapters, too — your childhood, your adolescence, the years you got crazy about basketball or computer games, and when you traveled around the world. Life unfolds in chapters — and each chapter has four distinct phases.

If you don’t know about them, you’ll make your life a lot harder than it should be, just like a plant trying to bear fruit during a cold and dark winter.

Instead, use the natural forces to support you instead of fighting them.

The starting phase

The first stage is akin to spring — when a new chapter starts.

Like plants sprout, you explore new directions. You explore new opportunities, develop passion, and become optimistic. Spring fever.

When I got my first computer at the age of 12, I was amazed by the possibilities — mostly steering a souped-up car through a fictional city at 280 km/h. Two years later, we hooked our house up the world wide web, which turned my amazement into absolute flabbergastation. There was a whole new world to explore.

Like you can smell spring, you can smell the beginning of something new and promising.

You go to the gym for the first time and find exercises you enjoy. You start dreaming of your beach body and lifting 100kgs for the first time.

You meet someone new and there’s a promising tingle behind your belly button — and it’s not because of the Indian takeaway you had for lunch. You start dreaming of going on adventures and falling in love.

You get into a new job you enjoy and crush your tasks, dreaming of a promotion and taking over projects.

Your spring is here — a time of growth and new beginnings.

The middle phase

Soon, you gain momentum and hit full stride.

A plant year’s summer is your middle phase. The sun shines, it’s warm outside, and the birds chirp. Life is in full effect.

Mere exploration turns into a specific direction. You’ve got clear goals and figured out what works for you. You’re in the zone and nothing can get you out of it.

Once I had found my way around the internet and tried multiple games, I eventually got hooked on one. Six years later, I had put more than 6000 hours into an MMORPG named Guild Wars. I got so immersed I spent almost my whole summer break staying up until 8 am playing with my best friend. My skin color resembled a vampire’s, but I reached every possible achievement, slew every boss, maxed out every character, and earned the highest title — a God Amongst Mere Mortals.

These were my endless summer days.

During this phase is when you feel like there’s nothing to worry about. You know your shit and you’re good at it. You hit new personal bests at the gym, crush it at your job, your hobbies have become a full-blown passion, and your flirt has turned into a promising relationship.

Life is good and you’re rolling through it at top speed.

The ending phase

Autumn is fascinating — it’s a beautiful harbinger of death.

When the days get shorter and the leaves more colorful, everything slows down. Growth stops and you reap the fruit of your hard work. Autumn is the last surge, Mother Nature’s last attempt of throwing out everything she has to offer before the long and dark sleep.

After I achieved everything possible in Guild Wars, the playing turned into enjoying my achievements. I looked at my character and thought of all the hard work. I replayed my favorite missions. I wallowed in the beautiful memories.

Once you’ve hit the peak, things can only go down — but the descent has its own beauty if you’re willing to see it.

You might not lift your record weights anymore, but you’ve got the wisdom to know which exercises work best for you.

You might not climb the corporate ladder or scale your business as quickly anymore, but you can focus on the things you enjoy and reap the fruit of your hard work.

You’ve left the honeymoon period behind, but you appreciate all the good your partner has brought into your life.

When autumn comes, it’s time to slow down, enjoy the show, and get ready to wrap up the chapter.

The Limbo phase

Watching my plants during winter is fascinating.

We humans are used to things always happening. Bigger, stronger, faster. Hustle every day. Everything always has to grow, but that’s not how nature works.

During winter, plants don’t do shit. Instead of growing, they hibernate and await a new spring patiently. It’s part of their natural flow.

Don’t force things that aren’t supposed to be.

At one point I realized no matter how many new games I tried, none of them excited me much anymore. No matter how beautiful the graphics, enticing the story, or engaging the community, it always felt stale. This simply wasn’t the time.

Lifting weights is awesome, but you won’t always feel like doing it five times a week.

Even if you love your job, at one point you’ll want to cut down on your hours.

And no matter how much you love your partner, you’ll want to focus more on yourself every now and then.

This limbo phase is to your life what winter is to plants — a period of inaction, isolation, low energy, healing, and hibernating.

Give yourself that time.

Regardless of Which Chapter You’re In, Keep This in Mind

You’re very different from a plant. You aren’t green — if so, please consult your doctor. You don’t do photosynthesis. You need more than sun, water, and earth to survive. Yet, you’re both subject to life’s natural flows.

Like a plant goes through four seasons in a year, you go through four phases in the chapters that make your life.

Here’s what you can learn from our green friends.

Don’t force things when it isn’t time

Forcing experiences is like forcing a fart — push too hard and you’re in for a shitty time.

That doesn’t mean you have to succumb to external forces, but don’t hold on to something past its due date or get into a new chapter when you aren’t ready.

Go with the natural flow instead of fighting against it.

Some plants survive winter, some don’t

In Germany, we have a saying: “Everything’s got an end, but a sausage has two.”

What starts must also end — yet every end is the chance for a new beginning.

Some plants sprout again after a cold and dark winter, some don’t. Just like that, the same chapter can happen more than once or make place for a new one. The Limbo phase is the most uncomfortable to be in, but it’s an inherent part of the cycle.

There is no spring without winter.

Appreciate every season

In every phase, you can find something you don’t like.

When you start, you want to move faster and have it all figured out. When you’re in it, you want to enjoy the results already. When you have done the work, you don’t want it to be over. When Limbo hits, you’d trade the low energy, aimlessness, and inaction for anything else. But this is flawed thinking.

You’re prone to want what you can’t have. It keeps you on a perpetual treadmill and chase for more. Instead, focus on appreciating what every season has to offer.

Spring brings new opportunities. You’re free to explore, have tons of energy, and are optimistic.

Summer has you live in full stride. You’re in the zone, enjoying it, and nothing can get you off track.

Autumn is the time to relax. You can kick back and enjoy the fruits of your hard work.

Winter is an opportunity to hibernate, reorganize yourself, and tie loose ends together. You heal, reflect, and restart.

Your life unfolds in chapters and phases. Every day brings you new opportunities in its own way — what starts with a detention in school can lead to learning a profound lesson about life. Go with the natural flow.

“To everything there is a season. A time to be born, a time to die; A time to plant, and a time to pluck up; A time to kill, and a time to heal; A time to break down, and a time to build up.”

— Ecclesiastes

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