Image from and by Freepik  

I am a born and raised Chicagoland girl, so I’m intimately familiar with the delicate art of adjusting the thermostat from heat to cooling within a single day. Chicago is one of the few places where you can wake up to a bitter winter wind, revel in a gentle spring breeze by noon, sweat through a scorching summer sun in the afternoon, and wrap yourself in the crisp embrace of fall by evening. It’s an unpredictable dance—layering up, stripping down, caught between seasons, sometimes in awe and other times just exhausted.

But what happens when we experience that same unpredictability in our thoughts about ourselves?

Until recently, I never considered how similar this experience is to the mental shifts I go through in a week—or sometimes even in a single day. One moment, I’m sharp and confident; the next, I’m doubting every decision I’ve made. Are we thriving, or barely holding on? Are we valued, or replaceable?

It’s not just me—I know many of us ride these thought cycles, shifting between certainty and doubt, competence and insecurity. The pressure of deadlines, leadership feedback, or even small social cues can cause our minds to interpret the same situation in wildly different ways. One moment, we’re energized and unstoppable; the next, we’re overanalyzing whether a thumbs-up emoji was too dismissive.

The Four Seasons of Thought

Our thoughts, like the seasons, follow a cycle:

🌨 Winter – “I am the worst.”
A moment of harsh self-criticism. Small mistakes feel like proof of incompetence. We see setbacks as confirmation of our worst fears.

🌱 Spring – “Wow, I am learning so much!”
A period of growth and curiosity. We interpret challenges as opportunities, and feedback as fuel. Possibilities start to bloom again.

☀️ Summer – “I rock this role.”
Confidence peaks. We’re in flow, executing with ease, and interpreting events with a sense of capability and control.

🍂 Fall – “I feel like I’m letting my team down.”
A time of reflection that can lean into overthinking. We start to analyze whether we’ve done enough or if others perceive us differently than we intended.

These shifting mental seasons exist not only outside our windows but within us—affecting how we experience our work, our confidence, and our abilities.

In the span of hours, I experienced movement from “I am failing” to “I am thriving”—all because of how my mind framed the situation.