How do natural cycles reflect personal life transitions?

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Natural cycles can mirror personal life transitions through shared rhythms of endings and returns

The summer solstice on June 21, the return of El Nino and the shift from spring into a warmer season are framed as signs of change that the writer feels in their own body and circumstances. The piece links these seasonal and weather cycles to a personal transition marked by menopause-related discomfort and a slow recovery of movement in a dysfunctional left shoulder blade. By treating both weather and the body as systems that move through phases, the writer uses nature’s turning points to describe how life can move from stiffness and pain toward renewed mobility and hope.
The June 21 solstice and El Nino are presented as signals of a coming phase
The writer notes that the summer solstice falls on June 21 and describes warmer weather as El Nino returns. That shift is tied to how spring “dissipates” and the body feels as though it has “come out of hibernation.” The expectation of heat is also connected to the writer’s ongoing experience of feeling as if their “internal oven” is stuck on burning, alongside the menopausal experience.
Menopause is described through a repeating physical “cycle” of discomfort and adaptation
The writer characterises menopause through an internal sensation of constant burning and persistent discomfort as the seasons change. They also describe waking at night with aches across arms, along thighs, and stiffness in ankles, plus soreness in hip joints. Even while noting “a lot of pain” and choosing not to take painkillers, they frame the body’s recovery as gradual learning to move again.
Recovery in the left shoulder is treated as a personal echo of nature’s turning points
The writer says their left shoulder blade has been slowly regaining mobility, moving from fear of sharp pain to being able to stretch for a water bottle with the left hand. They contrast this with less than two months earlier, when turning to the left and picking things up required using the right arm because the left side “might as well have been made of stone.” They describe countless stretches and exercises as having little effect at first, then say acupuncture seemed to help “start the breaking of the glacier” in the arm, even though pain remains.
Cycles of life, death, and rebirth are used to explain endings that make room for new phases
The writer explicitly says that life can only be understood through cycles: what must die, what starts must end, and how old things can come back around. They also place personal healing inside that framing, comparing it to the sun finally coming out in Taipei after days of constant rain, and to clouds and sun over Huashan Creative Park. With stiffness and limitations still present, they use the image of a phoenix rising from fire to express hope that recovery will follow the heat and the hardest days, as “everything must end” and “now” includes the possibility of healing.

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How do natural cycles reflect personal life transitions?

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