It’s mid-April. The bulbs are coming up again.

Some plants die back completely in winter. To the ground, to nothing. And every spring they return. Not despite the disappearing. Because of it.

The retreat was the work.

Athletes know this. Improvement doesn’t happen during effort — it happens in recovery. You stress the system, step away, and return stronger than before you left. The fallow period isn’t lost time. It’s where the consolidation happens.

We’ve forgotten this. In a world of visible output and constant comparison, the quiet periods feel like falling behind. But the people who look busy aren’t always the ones doing the deepest work.

We are seasonal too. We have winters whether we plan for them or not. The word itself tells us — perennial, from the Latin, meaning all the way through the year. Not around it. Through it. Still planted. Still there. Waiting. Lao Tzu called it returning to the root — the stillness beneath, where everything prepares to begin again. The first move is simply noticing — recognizing the fallow period for what it is, rather than fighting it or mistaking it for failure. Then, trusting that it belongs to the process. Not an interruption of your life. Part of it.

The bulbs are coming up again. So are we.

— Pete

Notes arrive on Sundays and some Wednesdays

•

If these shorter notes resonate, The Practice is where I go deeper — longer essays on the same terrain. → here 

About me, and Practice Notes → here 
About Integrative Coaching → here 
About my book, The Why of Sports → here