When Winter Returns: What the Snow in Springtime Teaches Us About Change

This morning, I woke to snow.

Not the first snow of winter – the kind that feels expected, even welcome.
This was different.

This was the snow that arrives after you’ve already begun to lean into spring. After lighter mornings. After the quiet optimism of longer days. After that subtle internal shift that whispers: we’re moving forward now.

And yet – white again.
Cold again.
Still.

For a moment, it feels like something has gone wrong.

But maybe it hasn’t.

Change Doesn’t Move in Straight Lines

There is something honest about this kind of return.

Because this is how change actually moves.

Not in clean lines.
Not in clear, decisive steps from one place to another.

But in cycles.
In revisiting.
In soft openings, followed by contraction.

Just like the seasons.

Spring doesn’t arrive all at once.
It negotiates its way in.
It tests the edges.
It meets winter again – and again – before it fully lands.

And we are no different.

The Feeling of “Going Back”

You might know this feeling.

Thinking you’ve moved on… and something pulls you back.
Making a decision… and suddenly questioning it.
Choosing change… and finding yourself in something familiar again.

It’s easy to make that mean something.

I thought I was past this.
Why am I here again?
Maybe I haven’t really changed.

But what if this isn’t you going backwards?

What if this is you meeting the same place – differently?

The Depth Beneath the Surface

What looks like “backwards” movement is often a deepening.

You are not starting from the same place – you are arriving with more awareness, more honesty, more truth. The patterns may look familiar, but you are not the same within them.

And that changes everything.

This is the quieter part of growth.
The part that asks for patience instead of certainty.
Presence instead of perfection.

The Role of Coaching in Times of Transition

This is where coaching becomes powerful – not as something that fixes you, but as a space that holds you.

Because when you’re inside a transition, it can be hard to see clearly. You’re in it. Feeling it. Questioning it.

Coaching creates space to step just enough outside the noise—

To hear yourself again.
To notice what is actually shifting beneath the surface.
To reconnect with what you truly want to move towards.

It brings clarity when everything feels blurred.
It restores momentum when you feel suspended between phases.
And it helps you stay connected to the deeper reason behind your change – so you don’t abandon it when things feel uncertain.

Trust the Season You’re In

The snow this morning didn’t mean spring had disappeared.

It simply reminded me that transition has its own rhythm.

That movement isn’t always visible.
And progress doesn’t always feel like progress.

So if you find yourself in a moment that feels like “going backwards,” pause before you judge it.

You are not behind.

You are in the part of the process that asks you to stay.

A Gentle Invitation

If you recognise yourself here – between seasons, between decisions, between who you were and who you are becoming – this is the space I work within.

Through coaching, I support you in navigating these in-between moments with more clarity, self-trust, and grounded intention. Not by rushing you forward, but by helping you understand where you are, stay connected to yourself, and move in a way that feels true.

Because transformation isn’t built in a single decision.

It’s built in what follows –
in the returning,
in the re-choosing,
in meeting the same edge with a little more awareness each time.

And from there, something real begins to grow.

I’m Sarah Cretegny, an Accredited Transformation Coach and Collaboration Catalyst. I create brave spaces where individuals, leaders and their teams – especially those committed to meaningful impact – can reconnect with who they truly are, so they can lead with greater clarity, courage, and purpose, even in uncertain times, and create sustainable impact.

I’m particularly effective when time is limited and the stakes are high. I draw on evidence-based coaching approaches, strengths expertise, and my lived experience of balancing leadership, family life, and international living. I’m deeply passionate about partnering with people to coach their wild, because the world needs more authentic leadership now more than ever.

I live in Lausanne, Switzerland and coach virtually globally. www.coachyourwild.com