Spring is supposed to feel good — so why doesn't it?
You made it through winter. So why are you more exhausted, irritable, and stuck than ever?
Watch a plant in early spring. The shoot doesn't ease its way up through the soil — it drives upward, directly, with surprising force. That same energy moves through your body every April whether you're ready for it or not.
When it flows, spring feels like possibility. You want to clean out closets, start projects, move your body. That restlessness isn't a character flaw — it's seasonal intelligence. Your nervous system is doing exactly what it's supposed to do.
But when that energy meets resistance — a body that's been sedentary all winter, a life full of unexpressed frustration, decisions that keep getting postponed — it doesn't just quietly go away. It backs up.
What backed-up spring energy actually looks like
You can't sleep even though you're tired. You start things and can't finish them. Small irritations feel disproportionately large. Your neck and shoulders are tight. Your low back aches for no obvious reason. You feel stuck in a way that's hard to explain to anyone.
None of this is random. In East Asian medicine, spring is governed by the Liver and Gallbladder — the systems responsible for the smooth flow of energy through the body, and for clear decision-making. When that flow gets blocked, these are the symptoms that show up.
Anger isn't the problem — suppressing it is
Spring's associated emotion is anger. Not destructive rage — more like the assertive, directional energy that lets you say what you mean, set a boundary, make a decision and stick with it. The kind of energy that gets things done.
Most of us were taught to sit on that feeling. And for a while, it works. But in spring, when the body is generating more of that upward-moving energy than any other time of year, suppression has a physical cost. It shows up as pain, sleeplessness, and the particular misery of feeling restless and exhausted at the same time.
What actually helps
The solution isn't complicated, but it does require honesty. Go for a walk — a real one, not a stroll. Say the thing you've been avoiding saying. Clean out the garage. Garden. Move your body with some intention behind it. These aren't just wellness clichés — they're ways of giving that seasonal energy somewhere to go.
Acupuncture works well in spring precisely because it addresses stagnation directly. If you've been in treatment before and felt like something wasn't quite resolving, it's worth considering whether the timing matters as much as the treatment.
If you're on the Olympic Peninsula and ready to see what this approach can do for you, request a free consultation.
Jason Taylor is a licensed acupuncturist and East Asian Medicine Practitioner based in Sequim, Washington, specializing in Five Element acupuncture.