I was looking for something else on my computer today when I came across a document I don’t remember writing, but it was titled September. I opened it, and I realized it was a brain dump I had written exactly to the date one year ago. It was a dictation because it was basically a transcript in Microsoft Word. I don’t believe it was a coincidence, a random thing that, on the exact date a year ago, I was writing on the topic of September.
Why does September feel like a new beginning?
A lot of us hit September and feel a little bit of panic. The year suddenly feels like it’s running out, and there’s a nagging voice that says we should have finished more by now. That’s not how I want you to feel about it, and honestly, it’s not how I feel about it either.
What I was feeling and thinking last year at this time is exactly what I want to share with you today. I see September not just as a reset (we tend to overuse that word, I think), but as a mini–New Year. Yes, it begins the countdown to the end of this year, but in an exciting and invigorating way. We get the chance to begin again, one more time before the end of the year. As adults, we lose some of that excitement that maybe we felt so easily as children: the beginning of the new year, the new book bag, the new desk, the new teachers, new learning. If we think of what September felt like then, it felt like the beginning of a whole new year.
I still treat September a little like I’m going back to school. I buy new notebooks when they go on sale. New pens, because I’ve always been a pen-and-paper person. I plan my calendar a little differently this time of year, and somehow, I find more room in it for the things I want to do. There’s no reason September can’t still feel that way now, for any of us.
As I read my own rambling words on the page, I had to think about my September. What was my year like from last September to this September? Total honesty and transparency: I didn’t get all my things done. I’m still working on some of my top goals that didn’t happen. I’m still trying to increase my daily walks and my clearing of space, but finding this document helped me change my own perspective and not regret what I hadn’t accomplished but look back at all the things I did accomplish.
I wrote a book! CLEAR: How to Let Go of Clutter and Create Space for Who You’re Becoming. It’s coming out on September 22nd! That was a lot. That was a big deal. You know what else? I still have time to add a daily walk to my life. I still have time to continue my clearing of spaces. I still have time to work on some of my other goals.
What’s yours? Maybe it isn’t a book. Maybe it’s showing up for a hard conversation you’d been avoiding, or finally starting the workout, you kept putting off, or simply making it through a rough season without falling apart. Whatever it is, let yourself feel proud of it before you rush on to what’s next.
September can be our beginning as adults as well. We have nearly four months left of this year, and that is real time to finish what matters and enjoy what’s left of it. Instead of judging what didn’t happen, what we said we were going to do and we didn’t accomplish, decide what you still want to experience, practice, or complete, rather than pausing everything until January so we can start again. Start now.
What’s that habit that you wanted to start? Maybe it’s walking every day. Plenty of time to do that. Start with just 10 minutes a day extra. Build up to whatever your goal is. Is it decluttering? You thought your house would be all organized and clear by now? It’s okay if it’s not. 15 minutes a day, one drawer at a time, you’ll be ready for the holidays and the new year.
What is on your mind for this year that you didn’t quite get done yet? What happened that you didn’t even plan for that was wonderful?
Talk to you next Monday,Meryl
