Hello, dear friend,
I hope you are well today. We are slowly coming to the part of the year when stores fill up with commercial celebrations of spiritual things, which make us forget they are deeply spiritual.
Let them that have ears hear.
I hope you are now putting away summer wardrobes and pools and bringing out the fire pit and heavy coats. I fantasised about doing a wardrobe rotation this autumn, but I haven’t figured out the storage yet, so I’ll live with my jumble for another few months. 🤣
I was talking to a friend recently about the life we dream about and our real lives. The distance between them, and how we can hold a dream yet honour the present. I truly believe that we must not let our biggest dreams go; God gives them to us for a reason, because they are possible.
However, in the rhythms of our lives, we must realise that our biggest dreams don’t get formed until the realities of today are successfully overcome with wisdom, grace and patience. It matters what we do today. It really does.
Not every season of life feels exciting. Some seasons are full of movement. New opportunities come, doors open, plans work out, and you can clearly see where you are going.
Then there are the quiet seasons, the period where the house is quiet, where your emails dwindle to a halt, where the doors are not slamming, and you have no deadline.
I have been reflecting on my quiet season and how much my heart has found space to heal in it, how I have expressed myself and also suffered incredible loss in this season. I have sat with what it means to feel disrespected and dishonoured yet grateful for the opportunity to serve.
I have sat with my fear of rejection and tried again and surrendered myself to experiences of nature and humanity with courage, not knowing how it would end.
It may be different for you; your own quiet season may be forced on you and unwelcome. We will have vastly different experiences with this.
Think about what life will be like when;
- The applications go unanswered.
- The opportunity you expected never comes.
- The project you worked so hard on seems to be going nowhere.
- You look around, and it feels like everyone else is moving forward while you are standing still.
And eventually, you begin to wonder:
“What am I doing wrong?”
Sometimes, the hardest part of a quiet season is not the waiting itself. It is the feeling that the waiting has no purpose.
A quiet season doesn’t have to be an empty season.
Not All Progress Is Visible
We often measure progress by what we can see.
- A new job.
- A promotion.
- A growing business.
- A new relationship.
- A completed project.
- A public achievement.
When none of these things is happening, it can feel like nothing is happening at all. Some of the most important growth happens quietly, in the night light of a quiet evening, in the early morning, thinking you can now engage in, in the pause before the kids come home where you can connect with other people, in the time you take to greet a neighbour.
You may be developing patience, learning a new skill, becoming more self-aware, recovering from something difficult, or gaining clarity about what you actually want.
Nobody may applaud these things; they may not even appear on your CV, but they still matter. Sometimes, the work happening inside you is preparing you for the work you will eventually do outside of you, the work you were called to do in this world.
It requires you to be fully equipped in a way you can never actually imagine, if only we let go of control and surrender to the callings of our hearts and spirit.
Stop Comparing Your Timeline
Our quiet seasons become even harder when we constantly compare them with someone else’s visible efforts without accounting for the invisible.
You see someone announce a new job and wonder why yours has not come. Someone starts a business and suddenly seems to be doing well. Someone you started with is already achieving the things you once imagined for yourself.
It is easy to conclude that you are behind. But life does not come with one universal timeline. Someone else’s progress is not evidence of your failure.
We must catch ourselves once our thoughts start to move in that direction; we must hold the reins of our mind wanderings and pull them towards the pathway of growth and depth of wisdom gathered in the current reality.
You can celebrate what is happening for someone else without using it as a measurement of your own worth. Your journey may simply require a different pace.
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Use the Quiet
A quiet season can become frustrating when all you do is wait for it to end.
Instead, ask yourself:
- What can I build while I wait?
- Maybe this is the time to learn the skill you have been postponing.
- Maybe you need to improve your CV, portfolio, or professional network.
- Maybe it’s time for you to finally tour your local area and get involved in local politics and engagement with other citizens
- Maybe this is the time to travel intentionally, slowly and mindfully
- Maybe you need to read more, create more, practise more, or simply understand yourself better.
And sometimes, what you need most is rest, a hobby that restores, an unrushed shower, a decluttered wardrobe….
Not every quiet season needs to be filled with productivity. There are moments when slowing down is part of the process too. The goal is not to stay busy just because you are afraid of feeling stuck. It is to use the season intentionally.
The Bigger Purpose
One of the biggest mistakes we can make is attaching our sense of purpose to a particular outcome.
- “If I get this job, then I am progressing.”
- “If this project succeeds, then I am doing something meaningful.”
- “If people recognise my work, then what I am doing matters.”
But purpose is not always confirmed by immediate results. You can be doing meaningful work even when nobody is watching. You can be learning even when you are not yet achieving. You can be becoming the person you need to be before the opportunity arrives.
Sometimes, purpose is found not in what you are achieving but in who you are becoming. Who are you becoming while you go through your day, making a million decisions that affect you and others?
Who are you becoming?
Allow Yourself to Enjoy The Season
You do not have to pretend that unplanned waiting is easy.
It is okay to feel frustrated.
It is okay to admit that you expected to be further ahead.
It is okay to have days when you question whether things will change.
You do not have to turn every difficult season into an inspirational story immediately.
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Sometimes, you simply need to acknowledge that this is where you are.
- Then take the next step. Not ten steps.
- Not the entire journey. Just the next one.
- Send the application. Make the call.
- Learn the skill. Finish the draft.
- Have the conversation. Take the rest.
- Start again tomorrow. Small steps still count.
So, if life feels unusually quiet right now, do not rush to conclude that you are failing. You may not be stuck. You may simply be in a season that requires a different kind of progress.
Keep learning. Keep growing. Keep taking small steps.
And when the next door opens, you may discover that the quiet season prepared you for it in ways you could not see at the time.
Until next time — stay warm, stay growing, stay loving, stay whole.
With love and light
Amaka
