Posted on:Sep 11 2020
I see the calendar every day, it’s been saying September for a little over a week now.
Maybe, like me and so many folks, September is your hands-down favorite month of the year...though, admittedly, a sturdy case can be made for July with those looong summer days and fireworks...and while October has the comfy sweaters, it also has that pumpkin spice thing, which I never did get.
So yeah, September rocks.
But this one is definitely different.
Take back-to-school - whether you’re a student or parent, it’s been completely topsy-turvied, it’s a stressful mess instead of a much-anticipated, collective inhaling-exhaling Reset. Shopping for school supplies, and a few things to spruce up the wardrobe, and maybe a fresh lunchbox or backpack, and organizing your pencil box...annual rites of passage.
Now it’s about cohorts and pods, remote and homeschooling, A - L on Mondays and Tuesdays while M - Z gets Thursdays and Fridays, scrambling for childcare...bad hair and what you wear is less of a social disaster (okay, this could be a good thing)...some schools have zombie walks! Yep, to help kids measure the acceptable 6-foot social distance.
Maybe this is how meditation will become a mandatory part of every school curriculum!
If you’re a teacher, wow. The challenge is almost too big for words.
If you’re in the working world, there’s usually that summer’s-over, back-at-it, regrouping bump...like the recess bell, ringing us back to our seats to focus. How to pull off this reset when office space is disappearing, there’s no huddle-up around the water cooler to share stories of summer, no coffee grab for the commute, you can even stay in sweatpants all day...
September 2020 is so not what we’re used to.
Without our usual autumnal transitions, we seem kind of confused, disoriented.
Wait. Are we groundhog-daying March? Ugh. March barely ranks above 11th or 12th in a normal year! And, hello, we are in the Northern Hemisphere here. The only way March moves up the list is if this pandemic gets rid of daylight savings time once and for all. I’d totally vote for that.
Okay, anyway, enough with that line of thinking. Let’s look at this September differently. Maybe we can extend August another four weeks, rather like an overtime summer. After all, the weather is crisp and beautiful, that sweet spot between too hot and too cold. You can still catch a day being comfortable in shorts and flipflops and, if it blows your hair back, go ahead and break the “no white after Labor Day” rule. The fishing improves. You can go apple picking, it’s socially distant. Maybe your WFH office or kids’ remote classroom can be out on your back porch for awhile.
Even though a lot of life is far from normal this September, and I sure thought we’d have more things more figured out by now, our favorite, grounding rituals are still there. It’s on us to give them a little extra love and intentionality so we get the maximal dose of what this month offers.
So here’s what I suggest. First, kick off your This-Really-Is-September Celebration by cranking Earth, Wind, and Fire’s eminently dance-able song and get your groove on!! 😊 Why not? Who cares what you look like?
After that, boost your enjoyment of the September things you know you love : the weekend outing to stock up on firewood; walking and hiking and riding your bike as often as possible; a bucket full of sunflowers; scouting for deer or elk, if hunting’s your thing; football season may be cancelled - depending what part of the country you live in - but tossing around the pigskin at your local park is an option; baking an apple pie or making cider or applesauce with those apples you picked; raking lots of leaves and jumping in them; harvesting and putting to rest your garden; jars of plum jam; flopping down in the grass, on your back, watching the clouds, maybe taking a nap.
Notice the crisp air in the morning. Breathe deeply.
Listen, look up, see what’s flying over.
Hope for an extended Indian summer color pop.
Look out at the light at the end of the day, soft, sublime, a sure shot of awe.
Ba de ya, say do you remember?
Ba de ya, dancing in September...
