Why Spring Is the Season of Becoming
You know that moment in spring when you step outside and the air just feels different? Not warmer exactly, but alive, like the city took a breath and something shifted overnight. You feel it in your chest before you can even name it. Maybe the bodegas put the flowers back outside or you feel an urge to open your windows which changes the soundscape of your apartment. You look up at the sky for what feels like the first time in months and the sun finally feels warm and familiar on your face.
That's your body remembering what it already knows. It's time to grow.
A seed doesn't rush
Think about what's happening beneath the soil right now. We are seeds that sat in cold, dark earth all winter and we're just starting to crack open. We're reaching down with a root, looking to find a stable grip, and pressing up toward light and warmth we can't quite see yet but we know is right there. There’s no rush, really, our bodies just know it's time.
We’re not meant to go somewhere new overnight, but rather just to recognize the phase shift, plant ourselves somewhere and say “I'm ready to begin.”
The metaphor is the truth
We talk about "planting seeds" like it's a figure of speech, but it's honestly more literal than we give it credit for. Starting something new, whether it's a creative habit or just a different way of moving through your world, really does follow the logic of a garden.
You choose what to plant with care and you prepare the ground. You put the seed in the soil and then you do the hardest thing of all, which is you wait. You water it, and you show up the next day and water it again even though nothing visible has changed. You resist the urge to dig it up and check.
And then one morning there it is, this tiny green sprout, barely anything, but alive and yours and real.
That's what it feels like to start drawing again after years away, or to pick up a needle and thread for the first time, or to sit down with a journal and actually write what you're feeling instead of what you think you should feel. The first session is the seed and the second is the water and the third is the root taking hold. And somewhere around the fifth or sixth time you realize you're not just doing a thing anymore, you're becoming someone who does this thing.
Why now? Why spring?
There's real biology behind that restlessness you're feeling right now. Longer daylight triggers shifts in serotonin and melatonin, your circadian rhythm is recalibrating, and all that energy you had turned inward for months starts moving outward. You feel an itch to start projects and open windows. You take long walks and maybe make impulsive plans on warmer evenings.
But beyond the biology there's something more human going on. During winter, we contract, while spring invites us to reach. And, reaching is vulnerable because growth always is. A shoot breaking through soil is the most exposed it will ever be, and maybe that's exactly what makes it beautiful.
I think that’s why this season always feels so charged. We finally get nicer weather and more daylight, but what feels like a turning point for the year then prompts you to make some commitments... and risk becoming.
Becoming what, exactly?
Not a better version of yourself, because that framing has always felt a little off to me. More like a version of yourself that’s a little bit closer to the way you move when no one’s watching. Think of the ideas that make you lean forward and the version of you underneath your obligations and habits.
Spring isn't necessarily about optimizing. It's an opportunity to unfurl.
And I think there's a reason people feel pulled toward creative practice this time of year. Why we feel compelled to pick up a pencil, move our bodies in new ways, and put ourselves in rooms with other people to make new things. These all help us get closer to ourselves through the practice of noticing and creating and paying attention. What happens when you show up and give yourself room? You will probably surprise yourself.
Nurture what you plant
Here's the part we sometimes skip, but it's the most important part: the tending. Showing up on the days when it doesn't feel magical, watering when you're tired, trusting that roots are forming even when you can't see them yet.
A creative practice is not a performance but rather a relationship. Like any relationship, it deepens not in the dramatic moments but in the ordinary ones, like the Tuesday evening you almost didn't come but did, or the sketch that went nowhere but taught your hand something new, or the stretch that finally released something you'd been holding in your body for months without realizing it.
And the same is true for community. The people you sit next to in a workshop, the ones who see your first wobbly attempt and share theirs, those relationships take time too. They grow the same way a garden does, slowly and then before you know it you have this network of people who saw you become and you saw them become and there’s no shortcut for this, really.
That's how a seed becomes a garden. Not through force but through showing up, again and again, with intention.
Step outside, breathe in, and begin.
The energy in the air is different these days, do you feel it?
So plant something. Not because it’s a new year or because someone else is doing it, but because something in you is ready to grow, and this is the season to say yes to that. Start small, start today, and come back tomorrow and water it.
At Drawing Room, we believe spring is for beginning, and that the best things grow when creativity and presence meet. This upcoming season, we're exploring growth in every sense, from pressing real botanicals into clay, to drawing, stitching, weaving, and telling stories. If you've been waiting for the right time to start something, this is it. Come plant a seed with us. Explore our spring Journeys →
