Most people live like life should be constant.

They expect relationships to feel passionate forever. Markets to follow predictable patterns. Motivation to burn at the same temperature year round.

I laugh every time I see this play out.

Everything that exists follows seasons. Everything breathes. Everything pulses. Everything rises and falls. It's the fundamental pattern of existence.

Think about your best relationship. The beginning was pure fire. Intoxicating. Consuming. Time warped around your meetings. Then something shifted. The inferno cooled into something steadier. Something deeper but less frantic. And what was your first thought? Something's wrong. The relationship is dying.

But nothing was wrong. The relationship was just moving into its next season.

Relationships have spring, summer, autumn, and winter. The passionate beginning. The settled middle. The challenging depths. The dormant period that either ends or renews.

Yet we panic at the first sign of winter. We expect eternal summer. We mistake natural cycles for fundamental problems.

I see the same pattern with successful investors. The best ones understand that markets don't just change, they cycle. What works in one season destroys capital in another. Growth strategies thrive, then suddenly value investing makes all the returns. Tech dominates, then commodities take the lead.

The brilliant ones don't ask "what works?" They ask "what season are we in, and what thrives in this particular season?"

But most people resist this reality. They want all-weather strategies. They want perpetual growth. They want constant motivation. They want passion that never cools. They're trying to defy the basic pattern that governs everything from economies to ecosystems.

Your own mind follows these rhythms too. Your creativity flows, then ebbs. Your focus sharpens, then blurs. Your motivation surges, then retreats. These aren't failures of discipline. They're natural cycles that everything living experiences.

I spent years fighting these patterns in myself. Demanding constant output. Expecting perpetual productivity. Beating myself up when my energy or creativity naturally cycled down.

What a waste of energy.

The highest performers I know don't try to maintain constant states. They've developed seasonal intelligence. They recognize what season they're in and adapt accordingly. They know how to work with the current cycle rather than fighting against it.

When energy is high, they push. When creativity flows, they capture. When focus sharpens, they execute. But they don't panic when these states naturally shift. They understand the season will change again.

Just look at nature. Trees don't produce fruit year round. Fields don't yield constant harvests. Animals don't maintain uniform energy levels through changing conditions. Yet somehow we think our careers, relationships, and internal states should defy this universal pattern.

I see people making the same mistake everywhere. They abandon projects during natural lulls. They end relationships during natural cool periods. They blame themselves for natural energy fluctuations. They fight the season instead of understanding it.

The smartest way to live is to recognize what season you're in and work with it, not against it.

In spring, you plant. In summer, you nurture. In autumn, you harvest. In winter, you rest and prepare.

Each season offers different advantages. Different lessons. Different opportunities. Winter isn't worse than summer, it's just different. The barren period is when the deepest roots form. The fallow time is when the soil regenerates.

What would change if you stopped expecting perpetual summer from yourself? From your relationships? From your work? From the markets?

I've found peace in acknowledging these cycles. In preparing for winter during summer's abundance. In planting during spring's fertility. In harvesting during autumn's completion. In resting during winter's dormancy.

We aren't meant to maintain constant states. We aren't designed for perpetual anything. We are seasonal creatures living in a seasonal world.

So stop expecting constant summer. Learn to dance with every season.