The Equinox and the Myth of Perfect Balance
There is something rather comforting about the idea of balance.
We hear about it everywhere. Work and life balance. Balancing our responsibilities with our needs. Balancing movement with rest, solitude with connection, discipline with gentleness. Wellness itself is quite often presented as though there is some perfect arrangement waiting for us, a point at which everything finally receives exactly the right amount of attention.
And then, perhaps, we will feel settled.
The equinox seems almost designed for this idea.
The word equinox comes from words meaning “equal” and “night,” and around the September equinox, the Northern Hemisphere moves into astronomical autumn. Earth reaches a position in its orbit where its axis is tilted neither toward nor away from the Sun. Day and night become nearly equal in length across the planet, although they are not perfectly equal because of factors including the way sunlight bends through Earth’s atmosphere (National Weather Service, n.d.).
For a brief moment in the enormous movement of the year, light and darkness seem to meet one another.
But they do not stay there.
And perhaps that is the more interesting lesson.
Balance Is a Moment, Not a Destination
One of the things I find beautiful about the equinox is that nature does not arrive at equilibrium and then stop.
The Earth keeps moving.
In the Northern Hemisphere, daylight continues to shorten after the September equinox. The evenings arrive earlier. The angle of sunlight changes. Temperatures gradually shift. Trees begin responding according to their species and climate. Animals alter behaviors. Our homes begin to feel different at five or six in the evening than they did only weeks before.
Balance, in this case, is a crossing point.
That feels rather different from the way we sometimes talk about balance in our own lives.
We can become frustrated when one part of life temporarily requires more of us. Perhaps work becomes demanding. Perhaps the body needs considerably more rest. Perhaps family requires our attention. Perhaps creativity becomes quiet while something more practical needs tending.
We may look at these periods and assume that something has gone wrong because everything is no longer evenly distributed.
But very little in nature operates through permanent equality.
There are seasons of expansion and seasons of conservation.
There are periods of intense growth followed by dormancy.
There are mornings when we need movement and evenings when stillness feels necessary.
There are weeks when we are deeply social and others when being alone feels restorative.
Perhaps wellness is not the ability to keep every part of ourselves perfectly balanced.
Perhaps it is the ability to notice when the balance has changed and respond thoughtfully.
Your Body Notices the Season Too
Seasonal change is not simply something happening outside the window.
Light is one of the environmental signals that helps regulate our circadian rhythms, the roughly 24 hour patterns involved in sleep, wakefulness, hormones and other physiological processes. Research has consistently connected changes in light exposure and sleep timing with circadian function and mood (Walker et al., 2023).
For some people, seasonal changes are relatively subtle. You might notice that you become sleepy a little earlier, want warmer food, linger inside more often or naturally begin changing your evening routine.
For others, seasonal changes in daylight can affect mood and energy much more noticeably. The National Institute of Mental Health notes that seasonal changes in daylight can interact with the systems involved in serotonin, melatonin and the body’s daily rhythms, particularly for people who experience seasonal affective disorder (National Institute of Mental Health, n.d.).
That does not mean every autumn dip in energy is a medical problem.
It does mean that we do not have to pretend our bodies exist independently from their environment.
You may simply feel different as the season changes.
And instead of immediately asking, How do I get back to exactly how I felt before? perhaps another question is available:
What does this season require from me now?
There Is Nothing Wrong With the Light Changing
We tend to speak very positively about light.
Light represents clarity, hope, warmth, energy and understanding. Darkness is often given the opposite symbolism.
But nature itself does not make that judgment.
Night is not a failed version of day.
Autumn is not summer losing.
Winter is not something the Earth needs to correct.
These are parts of a cycle, each creating conditions that the others cannot.
This can be rather useful to remember when our internal lives become quieter.
Sometimes we are incredibly productive. Ideas come easily. Our social energy feels abundant. We want to begin things, organize things, travel, create or move.
And sometimes something inside of us grows quieter.
We become more selective.
Perhaps we are thinking more than speaking. Perhaps we feel a need to clean our spaces, finish unfinished things or reconsider where our energy has been going. Perhaps what felt exciting several months ago simply does not fit in quite the same way anymore.
It is very easy to interpret these changes as loss.
But quiet does not always mean absence.
Sometimes quiet is where discernment becomes possible.
The Difference Between Balance and Responsiveness
Imagine trying to keep your life divided into perfectly equal pieces.
Exactly enough work.
Exactly enough sleep.
Exactly enough exercise.
Exactly enough time with other people.
Exactly enough solitude.
Exactly enough productivity.
Exactly enough pleasure.
It sounds healthy until we remember that human beings do not remain exactly the same from one day to another.
Neither do our circumstances.
A difficult week may require considerably more recovery than an ordinary one. A creative project may temporarily deserve greater concentration. Someone we love may need us. Our bodies may become tired. A new opportunity may ask us to stretch.
Perfect balance can become another standard against which we judge ourselves.
Responsiveness is different.
Responsiveness asks us to remain aware.
What is receiving too much of me?
What has not received enough?
What am I continuing simply because it once worked?
What needs to be protected?
What am I ready to loosen my grip on?
What feels as though it is quietly asking to begin?
That feels much closer to the movement of an equinox.
Not an instruction to freeze everything at fifty fifty.
An invitation to notice the crossing.
A Small Equinox Practice
You do not need an elaborate ceremony to acknowledge a changing season.
You might simply give yourself twenty quiet minutes.
Open a window if the weather allows. Make tea. Sit outside. Lower the lights in the evening. Put your phone somewhere you cannot reach without intentionally getting up.
Then consider three areas of your life.
What is growing?
Something may be asking for more space. A relationship. A creative practice. Your health. Education. A new responsibility. Curiosity about something you have been postponing.
You do not have to know where it leads yet.
Simply notice it.
What is diminishing?
Something may naturally be becoming less important.
This does not necessarily mean something went wrong. Interests change. Responsibilities change. Relationships change. Versions of ourselves that were once useful eventually become too small.
Not everything that becomes quieter needs to be revived.
What needs rebalancing?
This is different from asking what needs to be perfectly balanced.
Perhaps there is simply one area that has drifted too far.
Your sleep.
Your spending.
Your attention.
Your boundaries.
Your time outdoors.
Your connection with people you care about.
Your relationship with your own thoughts.
Choose one.
You do not have to reorganize your entire life before the season changes again.
One thoughtful adjustment is enough to begin.
Let the Season Move
The September equinox has already passed.
There was no pause in the sky afterward.
The Earth did what it has done for an incomprehensibly long time. It continued along its orbit. The balance came, and then the balance changed.
I rather like that.
It releases us from the idea that wellness eventually brings us to some beautifully arranged place where everything remains in proportion forever.
Life moves too much for that.
We move too much for that.
Maybe balance is not something we finally achieve.
Maybe it is something we pass through repeatedly, each time with a little more awareness of ourselves.
There will be seasons when you need to reach outward.
There will be seasons when you need to come home to yourself.
There will be times to build, times to maintain, times to release and times simply to notice what is changing.
The wisdom may not be in keeping the light and darkness equal.
It may be in learning how to live meaningfully as their proportions change.
And for now, perhaps that is enough.
If the changing season has you thinking more intentionally about your surroundings, daily rituals, and relationship with the natural world, explore more seasonal wellness practices in Naturals.
References
National Institute of Mental Health. (n.d.). Seasonal affective disorder. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
National Weather Service. (n.d.). Why do we have seasons? National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Walker, W. H., II, Walton, J. C., DeVries, A. C., & Nelson, R. J. (2023). Circadian rhythms and mood disorders: Time to see the light. Neuron, 111(21), 3430–3444.
