Do You Resist Autumn or Welcome Its Approach?
It’s early morning and the house is still quiet, I stand in the open doorway leading to the garden. A cup in my hand, soles of my feet bare against the wood, cold air rushing around me trying to steal the warmth left over from my bed. I sigh and my breath mixes with the steam from my tea.
The coming of autumn heralds a rush of energy, a sense of need and urgency. The mad hatter trying not to be late. At least that’s how it feels to me.
It’s like rising after a long lazy afternoon only to realize the clocks have changed and you’ve ‘lost’ an hour but your to-do list has inexplicably grown while you slept.
My mum was a teacher and I’m an eternal student so September is a new year for me, full of possibilities and expectations of the months to come. It’s not just a gathering in of the harvest but an expansion, as I get to rush out and meet the world after the slow heat haze of the summer months.
I find how we meet transitions fascinating. In the circle of the seasons, we see the same habits and responses we have to things on a smaller scale. Autumn is the time of day between 5 and 11 pm. Your journey home and coming together with the people you meet there, your evening preparations for the next day, your slow acceptance that work hours are over and it’s time to let go of whatever has not been done. The permission to nurture yourself and rest. It is echoed in the moon phases by the waning moon and its gradual lessening of light which reminds us again to rest.
What are those hours typically like for you? Are there habits you are barely aware of, signals that you are missing?
In a culture based on busyness and consumption, it is easy to feel resentment and frustration that the night is on its way and the time to rest is near. We push it back with electric light, instant access to colleagues via email and text, and the ability to ‘catch up’ with friends over social media long after our body clocks have told us they are done for the day.
Perhaps this autumn with so much more self-awareness and enforced rest under our belts after the last year, we could make a conscious choice to treat ourselves differently?
We are all aware of how lack of sleep affects us. It’s common knowledge and to be honest a bit of a broken record against the demands placed on our time by our endless commitments. But what about rest? How does rest or the lack of it affect you and what do you think of when I say that word?
For me, rest can be anything that returns you to yourself in this moment. It is a deliberate pause on the whirlwind of thoughts that occupy you and an escape into a brief freedom. Do you lose yourself in a book, or sit quietly watching the world go by? Do you walk, or meditate? Do you listen to music or play creatively? There are as many different ways as there are people, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find one for you.
The autumn is here, there is no stopping it. How do you intend to honor yourself this season?