A Message From September
For the first time in months, the heat is not so harsh and unrelenting. The breeze is fresh, like a different oxygen fills my lungs. As I’ve grown older, I’ve found myself almost more awake to the changing seasons. I can think of many journal entries in the past 5 years reflecting on the color of the leaves and the way the air feels on my skin. The start of September brings a new phase as school years settle, the excitement of summer eases, and we return to more routine.The harshness of the summer relents and the coolness of autumn once again offers reprieve. This past weekend, September’s warm sun rays and light, cooling breeze called me to consider the natural desire and need for BALANCE.
My life is currently filled with a lot of transitions and changes. I am stepping into many new roles and challenges that have left me craving routine and structure that’s felt hard to find. I find my clients meeting many of the same struggles as they face new transitions into motherhood, begin new school years, become empty-nesters, and start to challenge old roles of people-pleasing, avoiding, and numbing. In fact, life transitions are some of the most common times for therapists to see new clients. Despite the discomfort of change, it is inevitable. We are living, breathing humans who evolve into a thousand different versions, roles, and experiences throughout our lifetime. The growing pains of change or transition are not a sign of danger, but a sign that there is tension between where we are currently and where we are going.
However, for some of us, our bodies and minds tell us that change is danger. A stressor like change can send us into a pendulum swing of extremity. Some parts of us calling us to overwork with rigidity. They promise that if we just keep moving, we will stay safe. Meanwhile, other parts crash into the couch for hours on end, mindlessly scrolling to help us find some relief from the intensity. The swing from extremity to extremity leaves us exhausted, depleted, and in chaos. Our bodies often show their fatigue with “a knot in the stomach” or “tightness like armor around the shoulders.”
So as September’s air called me to remember, balance offers relief in the face of intensity. With a little compassion for the parts of us working so hard to keep us safe, we can remind them that this pain won’t last forever—just as the harshness of Summer always gives way to the relief of Autumn. Balance doesn’t mean choosing one part over another—it means creating space for all of them to belong as we grow into what’s next.
