How I Use Seasonal Rhythm for Creative Work: A Manifestor’s Year in Four Movements

May 25
5 min read

Discover how aligning with a seasonal rhythm for creative work transformed my business, my nervous system, and the way I move through the year.

The Sunday Current | A monthly glimpse into my life, the seasons I’m living, and the stories shaping my work. — **The Sunday Current |** A monthly glimpse into my life, the seasons I’m living, and the stories shaping my work.

It’s interesting how our bodies flow toward what they need, even without prompting.

Yes, the heart beats and the lungs breathe. But even when we try to force ourselves into systems and cycles that feel unnatural to our personal Source Code, the body has a way of fighting back.

A Story of Mine — If You’ve Got the Time

I started Keniston Family Photography in 2017, a year after my son was born. In those early years of motherhood, I was desperate to capture every moment. I have aphantasia, a condition that inhibits my ability to recall visual memories. I can’t rebuild a scene in my mind or recall a face. Photos are my only link to the past.

We didn’t have the budget for professional photography, and even though I had an artist’s eye, I couldn’t afford the art. We were living in a 600-square-foot apartment with a newborn and three animals, scraping together a $25 weekly grocery budget. That Canon Rebel T2 listed for $100 was a reach—but in girl math, it made sense. We’d essentially be saving money on all the photography I wanted to document my motherhood journey… right?

I didn’t plan on starting a business. I just needed to take pictures. I needed practice and subjects to hyperfixate on. But that’s my pattern once I find a medium, I want to collapse into it. And when I do, I need to share it. Sell it. Make room for more. I can only take so many photos of my own family before my creative drive overflows.

So I started taking on clients. I learned fast. I learned the technicalities of the camera and the story telling of composition. I loved it. Almost immediately, I was booked out and filling waitlists. My mini sessions filled within hours. I kept my pricing low to stay accessible for families like mine—new moms who deserved beautiful memories without luxury pricing.

But behind the success, a cycle was forming.

Burnout Season

Spring and Summer brought constant sessions, long golden hours in Raleigh heat, and an inbox overflowing with inquiries. Fall always arrived with the rush of Christmas card bookings and frantic holiday timelines. Then came Christmas Minis to close out a high contact year.

Then making my families own Christmas magic, attending parties, playing a part that I wasn’t sure I signed up.

January would hit and #blessed with two January birthdays. (/sarcasm heavy)

I’d feel obligated to throw Pinterest-worthy parties, proving to the world one tea party at a time that I was good enough. That I could do it all. Like I wasn’t already living on borrowed energy.

And then I’d crash.

Every. Single. Year.

What I thought was depression was really collapse. Burnout. Total system overload. I couldn’t move, couldn’t answer texts, couldn’t show up. Eventually, I started warning people: “You won’t hear from me for a few months. It’s not personal.”

By 2020, I shut down the photography business. I’d burned too hot for too long. And while I look back fondly on that season and the beauty I created, I knew I had to do things differently.

So I Started Seasoning

I launched my spiritual business in 2021. At first it was tarot and mediumship, then art, now Fieldwork. And while the work keeps evolving, what has made the difference behind the scenes is how I move through the year.

I still cycle through the same energy waves — but now I do it with intention. I call it seasoning.

What is Seasoning?

Not the kind you put on garlic bread.This is about matching your personal energy to the rhythm of the Fields.

We live in a world of hustle—endless output, eternal summer. But our bodies are wired for cycles. Seasoning is how I honor my own.

When we season, we align with the available energy of the earth. We don’t force. We tend. And we allow.

My Seasonal Rhythm:

🌱 Spring – New Beginnings I begin to wake up. Slowly at first—March feels very different than May. I plant seeds, test ideas, establish flow. On Beltane, I write my summer intentions on paper and bury them in the garden. I clear out last year’s debris and tend the soil.The more I prepare here, the more I grow later.

🌞 Summer – Expansion & Abundance This is my “yes” season. I bend toward the light. I follow the energy. Like a tomato plant splitting at the skin, I let myself grow full and weird and joyful. I say yes to things that surprise me. I trust my surplus. I use it. I don’t worry about not having the energy because I always do. I bet on that and make my expansion here.

🍂 Fall – Harvest & Integration I start to slow down. I finish what I’ve started. I look around at what actually grew. What bloomed? What didn’t? I stop planting and start savoring. On Samhain, I reflect. I release. I shift from growth into dormancy and review the intentions I planted on Beltane.

❄️ Winter – Rest, Reflection, Visioning This is sacred stillness. I used to crash here. Now I choose it. I don’t launch. I don’t sell. I may take a few readings, but mostly I do nothing. I rest deeply. I vision for the year ahead. I dream in safety knowing that the energy to act will always show up. I reset my nervous system, and from there, the next spring always rises.

Why Seasoning Matters

I’ve built a life where I can honor this rhythm on a macro scale but you can do it in micro, too. Even if your job is year-round. Even if your energy doesn’t look like mine.

Some people can move at a steady pace all year. I can’t—whether by design, disability, or lived experience, I cycle. And so I build my life around that cycle with intention.

Seasoning gives me permission and pattern. It helps me know what to expect — not just from the world, but from myself. It keeps me rooted, present, and honest. And most of all? It helps me build a life that feels like mine.