Every Phase Has Purpose: Accepting Your Current Season

What Nature Teaches Us About Accepting Your Current Season

In permaculture, nothing grows nonstop. No plant blooms all year. No tree holds its leaves forever. No soil stays warm and active every month of the year. Nature moves through cycles, and each cycle has a job.

But when it comes to our own lives — especially as veterans — we forget this truth.

We think we’re supposed to be strong, productive, focused, and capable every single day. And when we slow down or hit a heavy season, we often panic or blame ourselves.

But nature doesn’t panic.

Nature doesn’t blame itself.

Nature accepts its season.

And that’s what this week’s lesson is all about.

Understanding the Natural Cycle (and Your Own)

Healing isn’t a straight line.

Life isn’t a straight line.

Growth happens in phases, and each phase matters.

These are the cycles I see every day in the garden — and in the veterans we serve.

Seed Season

Everything is quiet on the outside, but alive on the inside. This season feels like uncertainty, waiting, or not knowing what comes next — but something important is forming beneath the surface.

Sprout Season

Small breakthroughs. Tender beginnings.This is when things start to shift. You try something new. You take a risk. You reach out. You’re vulnerable, but you’re growing.

Growth Season

You gain momentum. Patterns change. Hope grows roots. You start building confidence again, one small step at a time.

Bloom Season

Your energy rises. Your gifts show. You reconnect with people. You find meaning again. You feel like yourself.

Fruit Season

This is when you’re able to give something back — your story, your skills, your time, your support. But fruiting is not forever. It’s a moment, not an identity.

Rest + Compost Season

This one scares people, because it looks like falling apart. But this is the season where old stories break down and new ones form. It’s not failure — it’s regeneration.

Rest isn’t quitting.

Decay isn’t defeat.

Winter isn’t the end.

Everything is feeding something.

Why Accepting Your Season Feels So Hard

In the military, slowing down feels wrong.

Rest feels dangerous.

Needing help feels weak.

Being unsure feels unacceptable.

But that’s training — not truth.

The truth is:

• Everyone has seasons.

• No one blooms year-round.

• Healing has a rhythm.

• Growth takes rest.

The garden gives us permission to be human again.

What Gardening Reveals About Healing

Gardening teaches lessons you can’t ignore:

Not every phase is supposed to produce.

Farmers don’t yell at a winter field for being empty.

Messy phases create the best soil.

Broken plants feed the next generation.

Your “messy” seasons feed new growth too.

Slow seasons aren’t wasted seasons.

Some of the most important changes happen underground.

You’re allowed to be where you are.

Nature doesn’t rush. Neither should you.

The Benefits of Accepting Your Season

Accepting your current season gives you back your peace and your power.

It reduces pressure.

You stop fighting yourself.

It builds compassion.

You learn to treat yourself with the same patience you offer a struggling plant.

It restores purpose.

Even in rest, you have worth. Even in stillness, you matter.

It strengthens connection.

When you accept your season, you stop comparing yourself to everyone else.

Peer Support: Seasons Shared Together

In our Coffee in the Garden group, you’ll find veterans in every stage:

• one rebuilding

• one resting

• one blooming

• one starting over

• one letting old things compost

• one finding steady ground

• one coming alive again

  
  

And the beauty is: none of these seasons are judged.

No one is expected to be “on.”

No one is expected to bloom.

No one is expected to be who they were in the past.

You’re accepted as you are, with the season you’re in.

That’s real peer support.

Not pressure.

Not fixing.

Not rescuing.

Just connection — honest, simple, human connection.

Signs You’re Learning to Accept Your Season

Acceptance sounds like:

• “It’s okay that I’m slowing down.”

• “I’m growing, even if I can’t see it yet.”

• “This phase has purpose.”

• “I can let go of what’s finished.”

• “I’m allowed to rest.”

• “I’m learning to be patient with myself.”

This isn’t giving up. It’s growing up — into someone more grounded, more aware, more connected.

A Seed to Take With You

What season are you in?

Seed • Sprout • Growth • Bloom • Fruit • Rest • Compost

Whatever your answer is, it’s the right one.

You’re not behind.

You’re not broken.

You’re not supposed to be blooming all the time.

You are in a season —and every season has purpose.

If you’re walking through a quiet or heavy chapter, come join us in the garden.

No matter your season, you belong here.

🌱— Farmer John

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