Are You Estivating? Do You Want To? Estivating is like hibernating but in summer. Rather than hunkering down in a cozy den to sleep through the winter, animals who estivate go into dormancy to survive hot, dry summers. Can you relate to this instinct to shut down until the weather (of all kinds) is less intense? It’s environmentally scorching outside: record temps, wildfires, hot oceans. It’s also emotionally scorching. Are there things happening now that make “your blood boil”?
Understanding our personal cycles and how we relate to the cycles of nature can help us weather inner and outer conditions that feel too intense to manage. Temperatures may be very hot or cold, there may be floods or droughts, periods of over excitement or stagnation. As we know from technology, a reboot can help us recalibrate and avoid malfunctioning. A rest and reset can help us adapt to current conditions and see new possibilities and solutions where none seemed possible before.
Ebb and Flow
I tend toward hibernation AND estivation, not for all of winter or summer, but for a few months in each. I have a high heat tolerance, but something changes in my energy and outlook in the deep summer months. My creativity and optimism often diminish. I’m not a fan of the cold, but over time I appreciate it more and find it less oppressive, especially in the generally mild climate where I live. I remind myself every year that those are not steady states; they ebb and flow. When dazzling fall arrives and spring brings everything to life, I feel more vibrant too.
Do you have seasonal changes like this? These shifts may not be that noticeable when life is going well. However, intensity or challenge can compound how we feel in the months when we are not feeling our best.
Self-Care and Collective Responsibility
Most of us do not have the individual luxury to hunker down in cozy climate-controlled dens for weeks or months when the conditions (atmospheric, political, cultural, physiological, interpersonal, etc.) don’t suit us. As citizens with responsibilities to one another, to those who come next, and to those with little power, like animals, we can’t afford to hole up and ignore the outside world, especially now.
I suggest as we are able, we each take time for mini estivations this season. A day, an hour, a few minutes if that’s all you have. Rest, reset, cool off. This season will pass and what we do now in the heat will make a big difference when winter comes.
©2024 Mara Bishop
Are You Estivating?
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Estivating! Who knew? It’s a wonderful word and a wonderful idea.
It seems like such a wise approach to handling climate changes. Being lucky enough to live in a temperate climate these days, with year-round temperatures that don’t fluctuate much, has been so much better for me. I don’t cope well at all with heat, and felt trapped in my house most of the summer in the place of my birth.
Being able to go out into nature year round is great, but when I lived in a super warm climate I did reflexively estivate. It slowed me down to a coma-like torpidity.
Thanks for your post, Mara, as always you make me stop and think about things more deeply.
Thanks, Melissa! It’s a great word isn’t it? I heard it for the first time from Rob Brezsny. It’s getting hotter here for sure and it does make it more challenging. Or maybe our activities will shift to more noctural or crespuscular as things heat up?