Her Next Chapters

57. Embracing Change, One Season at a Time

• Christina Kohl

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In this episode, we dive into the beauty and challenges of life’s changing seasons, from weather to family transitions. Inspired by the first snowstorm of the year, I reflect on how each season brings something new and often unexpected. Just as we experience excitement with the first snowfall—only to be met with more storms and extra work—family life has its own highs and lows as our kids grow and move on to new stages.

Through personal stories and insights, I explore how easy it is to idealize the past or look forward to the future, while missing the moments right in front of us. Join me as we talk about finding gratitude for the season we’re in, embracing the lessons each phase offers, and cherishing the unique beauty of today.

If you’re navigating change, missing earlier phases of life, or wondering what’s next, this episode will remind you to pause, reflect, and find gratitude in every season.

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Christina Kohl:

Hi and welcome to Her Next Chapter's podcast. I'm your Christina Kohl ole. I'm a mom of three and soon to be an empty nester. I'm also a certified HR pro who restarted my career after being a stay-at-home mom for over a decade. I created this podcast to connect with moms who have an empty nest on the horizon and are wanting to redefine their identity outside of motherhood, which might include a job search. On this show, we'll have raw conversations about our ever-changing roles as moms. We'll hear from women who restarted their careers and share tips for a job search after a career break. So if that's you, you're in the right place. Friend, let's get started. Hi, friends, and welcome to this week's episode of Her Next Chapters. I'm your host, christina, and, as always, I'm so glad to welcome you to the show this week. So I am recording this.

Christina Kohl:

During the second week of November and here in Colorado, we just had our first big snowstorms of the season last week, and it made me think about the seasons, the change of seasons, not only in the weather but in our lives. And what made this come up for me is that we had our first big storm last week and it was 12 inches of snow and I went out to shovel because that's what we do. So for those of you who don't live in a cold climate, the reason that we shovel obviously not just to clear the path for the Amazon drivers to deliver all of our cool stuff, especially, you know, gearing up for the holiday season, so that's important clearing the path but also the snow will melt, and then that water creeps into every little crevice and crack that it can, and then overnight it freezes and the water turns to ice and expands and makes cracks bigger. So whether it's the brick or the sidewalk, the pavement, whatever our deck, it can really be destructive and so we have to stay on top of it. And the first big snow last week, 12 inches of snow. I'm out there shoveling and, oh my gosh, you guys, it was beautiful, it was so peaceful and quiet and it was right around the time of the sunset and the snow was just sparkling in what was left of the sun.

Christina Kohl:

And I wound up getting my camera out and taking so many pictures because the trees were just full of snow and the snow and the ground is beautiful and I was capturing the work. It was a tunnel, it ground is beautiful and I was like capturing like the work. Like here's a tunnel. It felt like a tunnel that I was carving with my shovel and it was just so much fun and and I was like exercising and just felt strong and it was just really neat. And then it kept snowing and snowing. So a couple of days later we had finally were able to clear all the snow off of our deck and everything was cleared. And that's when we got the next big dump and the second dump I call it the dump, you can tell. Even my voice is like oh, it's beautiful. So now it's a dump and it was heavy and wet, and same thing. We just cleared the deck the night before and now we have to do it again and again. If we don't do it, then we've got the freezing overnight, the expansion and the cracks and the damaging of things. So we have to stay on top of it.

Christina Kohl:

And as much as I love the change of seasons, it did have me questioning. Not on day one, day one, remember. I was all happy and excited and so beautiful. By the third day it's like okay, this is the beginning of the snow season. We've lost one of our snow shovelers because he's away in college and this is a lot of work and there's pros and cons to everything right, and as we transition into new seasons we might have a longing for the season that was behind us, the season we just finished, or we might be looking the other direction and go oh I wish it was spring already and just want to bypass the cold winter and all the shoveling and the snow. And it just made me think that life is kind of this way too, particularly family life, and I don't know if you can relate to this, but or if you have one I have.

Christina Kohl:

Um, for my birthday this year I asked for one of those digital picture frames and we we got it all set up. I was given the gift and it's on our kitchen counter and every 15 seconds a new picture cycles through, and we all downloaded a whole bunch of pictures. We probably have three, four, I don't know even 500 pictures and they just are constantly cycling through and some of them are pictures I've never seen before, because it might be from one of the kids' cameras or my husband's camera and I've just never seen. It know, just seeing these pictures, and it might be of my now college freshman seeing him as a picture of him when he was at his first birthday party in his high chair with cake smeared all over his face and a big old smile. Or a picture of the kids when they're in elementary school with our dog on a hike, or pictures of us skiing when the kids were little, and then that's interspersed with and it's all random, of course that's interspersed with pictures of them today, you know away at college or you know skiing as big kids or you know just being themselves, and it's just really fun to see that.

Christina Kohl:

It's also made me nostalgic for the time when they're little. I can have a great relationship with my three young adult kids and I love and appreciate who they are today. But seeing these pictures of my kids when they're little it made me miss that and miss them and miss that stage of life. But, and so in my remembering, being nostalgic, I'm remembering it's kind of like that first day of the winter storm, like, oh, it's so beautiful. And let me take the being nostalgic I'm remembering it's kind of like that first day of the winter storm, like, oh, it's so beautiful, let me take the picture and oh, this is great, I'm so lucky to have all of this. And then you forget like wait a minute. I got to go shovel again and again and again. This is just the beginning. You forget that there's a two-sided coin right. There's the beauty and the hard kind of mixed together. And so I was having this day yesterday actually of feeling nostalgia, like missing my little kids.

Christina Kohl:

I stumbled across this video as I was cleaning out some digital files and I stumbled across this old video of my kids when our dog Ryder was a puppy so that would have been like 12 years ago and my kids were being very mischievous this was their video, not mine, I don't think I'd ever seen it before and they were being very mischievous, teasing the puppy, and they were being unkind and they were laughing and thought it was so funny and I kept waiting for the adult to come in to say stop. But there wasn't an adult there and it just reminded me. It brought me back very quickly from that nostalgia of like, oh, I miss when they were little. They were so sweet and so fun. You know what? There are parts of that stage of life that weren't fun and again they were just being goofballs in the video, but it just like gave me a more realistic picture of what it was I was missing and longing for, and it made me realize that it's that way in all seasons of our life.

Christina Kohl:

And then, if we're not careful, we won't enjoy the season that we're in. Right, because if we are looking back with nostalgia and missing all the good stuff and forgetting, you know there was the other side of the coin. There's hard stuff too. Or if we're looking only forward and wishing for a different season to be here we're, we're missing out on the season today, and today has its pluses and minuses too, just like every other day is. But it's really important to be grounded in the season that we're in and to appreciate both the good and the not so good of the seasons.

Christina Kohl:

So if you are in kind of one of those seasons of change in your life, maybe you're missing who you were in the past, are you missing who your family was in the past and you're anxiously awaiting what's next, if that's an empty nest or a career change for you or just forming your identity outside of motherhood. Some tips you might find helpful is to take some time to reconnect with yourself, make space for what brings you joy and meaning outside of your family roles whether it's exploring hobbies, volunteering or setting career goals and to stay open. The season that you're in now is preparing you for what's next. So the changing of seasons whether it's the weather and we embrace the snow that's coming, or the spring that's coming, or the heat of the summer, the change of seasons, or whether it's the family seasons as our kids go through the different elements of school, different stages and ages, to when they grow up and leave us Each phase is beautiful, each phase has challenges and we can learn from each phase, and so, really, my reminder here is to savor the highs and even appreciate the lows of the current season that you are in. So, rather than longing for the past, hoping for the future, to enjoy the present moment and appreciate it, because in reality, that's all that we have. So, again, I want to leave you with finding something each day to be thankful for, especially when you're in a transitional time, and share that gratitude with someone else, because, who knows, it might make their day too. I hope that, whatever season of change you are in, whether it's just the weather or life change, I hope that you can seek and find something to be grateful for, looking for the positives and enjoy. And, my dear friends, if you are coming up on a season of change where you are reentering the workforce.

Christina Kohl:

I have two resources for you. One is my career returner resume template that is specifically designed for people who've had a career break, and so that is a free resource. It's in the show notes where you can download that, and it's a resume template that is just fully customizable and instructional. And later this month, on November 21st, I am hosting a one hour free resume masterclass for career returners. It's the Comeback Resume Masterclass, and, again, it's totally free. We are going to deconstruct that resume template and more, and so if you want to sign up for that the link for that is in the show notes as well I encourage you to attend. Again. There's no cost and tons of value, and you'll be able to meet some other career returners too. All right, well with that.

Christina Kohl:

Thanks so much for listening to the episode.

Christina Kohl:

I hope it was of value and you'll be able to meet some other career returners too. All right, well with that. Thanks so much for listening to the episode. I hope it was of value to you. If it was, please rate and review the show. That way other people can find it too, and if you happen to have a friend that you think that this content is helpful and they would appreciate it. Just send them the episode or send them a link to the podcast. That would mean so much to me and it would help your friend as well and help us grow this community. All right, thank you for being a listener. I really appreciate you and I'm rooting for you, and I wish you a November filled with gratitude, all right, well, that's it for this week's episode. Have a great week, my friends and I'll talk to you next time. Episode. Have a great week, my friends and I'll talk to you next time. Thank you so much for listening today. I hope this episode hit home for you and, if you haven't already, be sure to connect with me on LinkedIn and say hello so I can personally thank you for listening. Until next time. Remember, your story is uniquely your own and your next chapters are ready to begin.