Why Am I So Tired? What is the Cause of My Fatigue?

Have you been feeling more tired than usual?

Have you felt like you just can’t do the things you used to do, or keep up with all the things vying for your attention?

Do you feel like staying in bed a little longer these days?

Are you tired of being tired?

I’m hearing these experiences a lot from my coaching clients.

The cause of your fatigue may not be what you think, and I want to share some insights that might illuminate the mystery of fatigue many are feeling.

Stress and Physical Ailments as a Cause of Fatigue

I’m only going to briefly touch on this topic, as I’m not a doctor or medical professional, and my focus for this article is more in the realm of what is more subtly influencing us.

A little over 10 years ago, I struggled significantly with adrenal fatigue. 

I had to take an entire summer off to soak in vitamin D from the Sun and rest. I barely worked. I didn’t go anywhere. I took my kids to the neighborhood pool a lot, and rested on the deck as they played. I worked with a homeopath and some functional medicine support to heal. 

I’d been burning the candle at both ends, pushing myself too hard, and figuring out how to be a single parent. Additionally, I was dealing with another medical issue that was taxing me in every way possible.  

My poor adrenals simply couldn’t keep up, and they’d had enough. 

This was a wake up call for me on every level. 

The beauty of it was that it was also a catalyst for much of the work I’m doing today, supporting women to find greater balance, set stronger boundaries, manage their energy, and align with their Soul in my programs like Solace and the Sacred Nights of Winter. 

I remember reading an article years earlier that said stress was quickly becoming the number one killer. It was dubbed a “silent killer” responsible for things like heart disease, substance abuse, and cancer. Even accidental deaths were considered to have stress as a factor. 

I was experiencing the physical impact of stress on my body, and I had no choice but to slow down. The fatigue and physical pain were unbearable, and life was showing me how to do things differently. 

Indeed we might have physical ailments like illness, disease, a broken bone, or adrenal fatigue that could be making us feel so tired. 

However, it’s important to consider how much of whatever we’re experiencing might in some way stem from stress. 

I encourage you to ask yourself how much of your fatigue, even if you could easily attribute it to something physical, is actually coming from stress. 

A certain amount of stress can be a good thing, supporting us to make changes, achieve a goal, or move through a challenge. However, long term stress that erupts into physical ailments has been a significant concern for some time.

What can you put in place to help you manage your stress?

Who can you call upon for support?

I believe wholeheartedly that Life itself is stepping in to help us. It’s these subtler causes of fatigue that I want to speak about now. 

Cosmic Influence as a Cause of Fatigue

Last year, there were many cosmic alignments and influences nudging us to move forward, asking us to see things differently and let go of what’s been. 

While I won’t go into the granular details that a practiced Astrologer could share, I will say that we had plenty of conjunctions, oppositions, eclipses, squares, retrogrades and more asking us to reassess our way of being. 

My specific mode of coaching is Ontological Coaching. Ontology can be defined as our “way of being.” Cosmic influences in the past year have been significantly impacting our ontology, whether we signed up for coaching or not.  

I love this, as it’s actually been a huge support in my holistic coaching work, somehow catalyzing changes more readily, generating a readiness to show up that I’ve not seen so strongly in the women I’ve coached before. 

It’s as if more of us are saying, “Enough! This way of being, this way of existing, these rules, these structures, all of it…I’m done. Something’s got to shift, and it’s time to shift NOW!”

I sometimes call this the “cosmic two-by-four to the head.”

This is the Universe’s way of saying, “Nope. You don’t get to put this off any longer. Like it or not, the change is coming, and you’re going to have to face it.” 

Kind of like aging and menopause, huh? 🤪

That might mean breakdowns, major stress events, unravelings of what we’ve known, and/or surprises we never expected. 

These might show up in the form of job changes, illness, moving, death of a loved one, expectations being far from met, relationships changing, and life itself feeling as if it’s uprooting.

Have you felt any of these over this last year?

I know some women who could check the box for everything I’ve mentioned having happened in the last year!

So what’s this got to do with being tired?

Well, when we’re being asked to completely shift our way of being, our entire body is recalibrating. 

Think of it as growth from the inside. 

Anyone who has growing teenagers will know what I’m talking about when I say that growth brings on fatigue. I remember a time in my teens going to bed before 10pm and not waking up, not even a little bit, until 3pm in the afternoon!  My developing, growing body needed the rest, and my sons’ bodies expressed the same a time or two.

While we might not be growing physically on the outside, these massive cosmic influences are catalyzing inner growth, and that inner growth makes us tired.  

When our whole being is reconfiguring or recalibrating itself to a new way of being, it’s inevitable that rest will be called for. 

Even elite athletes know that recovery time is as or more important than the training itself. 

Yet how many of us in the dominance and control culture we’ve been accustomed to know how to truly pause for recovery? 

I believe that the Universe, in Her benevolent way of supporting us to find harmony,  is saying, “No more. You must take time to recalibrate, and if you won’t do it yourself, I’m going to help you out.”

Many women I’ve been coaching are noticing that if they surrender into their need for recovery, they emerge feeling renewed, able to think more clearly, and actually feeling ahead of the game rather than behind as they thought they would if they allowed themselves to rest. 

What would it look like for you to allow yourself the opportunity to surrender into rest?

Nature Alignment May Be Why You’re So Tired

I believe part of the cosmic influence we’ve been experiencing in recent years is also to help us align more strongly with Nature. 

One of the most powerful ways we can align with Nature is to align our Soul with seasonal and other natural rhythms. 

This is why my Solace program and The Soul Planner incorporate seasonal alignment, as well as attuning to moon phases and zodiacal rhythms.  I’m even working on a new series of journals called Sacred Seasons to support us further. Stay tuned for more!

Heading into the Winter after last year’s cosmic influences sent us into the hibernation energy of Winter already well fatigued. 

Winter is a time of deep reflection, womb time, pausing to allow the darkness to wash over us and in itself recalibrate us. 

Winter at a time when cosmic recalibration is already at a peak is going to mean all bets are off if you’re betting on feeling lots of energy and keeping up with your old pace.

Nature is doing all She can to help us align. 

She works with Her planets and constellations, Her seasons and moon phases, Her storms and temperature changes, and Her amazing elements of earth, air, fire, water and ether to support our recalibration.

Similar to surrendering to the need for recovery and rest, what would it look like to surrender fully to Nature and Her influence?

How would it feel to allow yourself that cozy time reading a book by the fire?

What if you went to sleep early and slept in late? 

What is your human body, of the Earth (humus), asking for and needing?

What if the shorter days and longer nights of Winter are allowed to envelope you in the magic of renewal?

Recovery from Fatigue Is on the Way

The good news is that Winter doesn’t last forever. Nor do the many cosmic influences at play.

Everything is constantly changing. 

Energy is constantly shifting. 

However, all is changing and shifting toward balance, harmony and neutrality…so don’t get to thinking things will ever go back to the old version of “normal” that we’ve known. 😅

We’re being called to a new way of being, and that’s not going to change.

What we can do is trust that we will regularly have new opportunities to learn new ways of being. 

We can learn to align more with Nature, tap into what’s happening cosmically, and manage our stress better. 

In Indigenous Celtic wisdom, the festival of Imbolc is a celebration of the onset of Spring, the earliest quickening of the seed beneath the soil of our being, preparing to sprout at the peak of Spring.  

I’m thrilled to share that I’m offering a brand new series of quarterly planning sessions, each of which will be held on one of the cross-quarter Celtic festivals of Imbolc, Beltaine, Lughnasadh and Samhain through the year.  

The first session is this coming Imbolc, quickly approaching on Thursday, February 1st. Check out the details and register HERE. 

This event is free to my Solace members and discounted for those who purchased The Soul Planner. 

The onset of Spring is sure to bring us new energy. The planets are all direct now, supporting us to move forward. 

Stepping into Imbolc and Spring consciously might be just the recovery support needed!

I invite you to allow for these last days of January to wrap you in Winter’s final cozy blanket of womb space for rest and renewal.

Surrender to being tired and get the rest you need. 

Allow rest to be ok, and know that the tides will and are changing. 

What will you do to rest yourself my friend? 

May we all move into the Spring with a sense of renewal, and find inspiration in a new ontology for ourselves!