It's early July!
The time of year when midlife women are thinking about fall... 😂😭
I had a brief meltdown this morning when I realized I’d be spending a considerable portion of the day family planning.
Not in the contraceptive sense but rather, how do we pay for hockey while still recovering from the $1.5 million we spent on day camp, plus a few other similarly hard to solve problems. A uniquely unsatisfying way to spend a Monday.
I imagine a number of you are also planning for fall or maybe stressing because you need to but are instead trying to stay present for summer.
Of course, the need to continuously plan at least a season ahead isn’t there for everyone, and if these words aren’t landing for you, I’m glad to hear it. Hold down your hammock! May your disdain for autumn plans serve as a reminder that rest is a reasonable, if not always attainable, desire.
Sometimes planning can be fun. I love organizing trips and parties when I’m in the mood. What I don’t love is the way I was groomed from childhood to be a cheerfully unpaid secretary and that I tumbled far too comfortably into that role.
It’s so easy for me it almost feels like I was born for it, which makes untangling myself that much trickier.
It’s weird to be so good at something that you spend years thinking you’re into it. Turns out, I’m not! At least not as a full time gig. I don’t love scheduling and then rescheduling other peoples health, recreation, education and nutrition appointments. I am however going to love telling my kids that it’s time for their nutrition appointment when dinner is ready tomorrow.
I started writing this because I’m thinking of offering a fall workshop that expands on the Fire Season Sessions and I’ve made a short survey to get your ideas about it. I didn’t see the rant coming, but I’m glad it did. It highlights the fact that we should all plan something for ourselves this fall ASAP, before another season flies by.
Would you be willing to answer a few questions for my survey? It’s only two questions. Super quick!
I’d like to plan something for October or November but I don’t know what yet.
A weekly online class?
A half day retreat?
A support circle?
A stitch and bitch?
Lunch and learn?
You get the idea. I just want to hang out with you, share some things I’ve learned and bask in your collective midlife wisdom and coolness.
Whatever unfolds, I know it will include space for our heartache and worry and room for laughter and fun.
Here’s to cultivating some goodness this summer. I know it’s getting harder and weirder to plan for good things given the satirical/ dystopian backdrop to daily life, but it’s never been more important to keep planting seeds of joy and connection, then watering and weeding that garden.
Also…
Keep your elbows up! Planning ahead can’t be avoided entirely, but having it fall entirely on your shoulders can be resisted.
If you’d rather just drop your ideas about fall classes in a comment that works too.