From the beginning, we live our lives based on seasons.
This can mean very different things. A climate season, a learning season, a life season and so on. But there are definite cycles we experience that bring with them influences and nuances that factor into our lives.
With September, we are coming into a new calendar season. Our weather will change. Depending on where you live relative to the equator and other factors, it’s either getting warmer or colder! In my case, it’s going to be getting cooler. We used to call it “sweater weather”. The air itself gets crisper and starts showing a bit of an edge to even colder days ahead. The foliage will begin to change albeit not quite so dramatic here in the deeper south as where I grew up in the Great Lakes region.
We’re also entering a calendar season where school sessions are resuming and in many cases, that means some first time changes in the “nest” as well. Our children or grandchildren are transitioning in their lives in preparation for their own independence and heading off to college and other ventures for gap years or just simply moving out of the family home. It’s another season for them and as a result, for us.
Seasons are also a factor in life in terms of our own development and acquired wisdom from experience. We are hopefully refining our philosophies along the way and becoming increasingly aware of our value and influence in the world.
Seasons are in fact one of the best gifts of life. They keep us from stagnating. They keep us moving. They create a current of change that continuously pushes us to what is next. While some might argue that a lovely, mild climate might be ideal year round, others would definitely miss winter. Others would miss summer. That is the other gift. In many ways we get to leverage seasons based on what is ideal for us at any particular season of life.
This is also why we must stay in design mode throughout our lives. Because there are always new and exciting factors coming in and those that have finished are moving out even if only figuratively.
As we move through September, this is something I am thinking about quite a bit because I believe this is where a collective conversation can bring meaningful individual growth. What about you? Where do you see seasons shifting things in your life and work? One thing is certain, change will happen. The key is whether or not you are designing it and celebrating it or something altogether different. As with everything in our lives, it is our perspective and how we see it that makes the difference.
Live (see) today like you want tomorrow to be. Live (see) well!
“What an abundant harvest has been collected in autumn! The earth has now fulfilled its design for this year, and is going to repose for a short time. Thus nature is continually employed during the greatest part of the year: even in her rest she is active: and in silence prepares a new creation.” ― Christoph Christian Sturm