August | Embracing Transition

Hi Friend!

I recently heard that August is the transition month between summers sweet ending and falls new beginning. I think whether you have kids in the house who are getting ready to transition back to school, or not, you can’t deny there is a shift in the air as we are on the brink of a new season arriving. I still find myself asking the questions “how are we in August already”? Yet here we are, with the kids going back to school in less than two weeks. I’ve been learning to embrace a few things as the seasons shift from one to the next, and become more aware of transition and the effects it has on me, and I wanted to share a few thoughts on those with you! So as I savor the last bit of slower mornings and warmer days, I’m sharing a bit of life updates as we make our way through August, and begin to transition into fall.

Learning to Embrace Transition

The older I’ve gotten, and the more I choose to intentionally savor each season, I’ve noticed that the very first leaves begin to change in August. It’s true! There are some trees in our yard whose leaves have already begun to change, and even drop. The first time I noticed this happening, I remember feeling slightly appalled because it feels like there is still so much summer left to be had in August. But the more I slow down and pay attention to the landscape around me, the more in tune I become with its’ rhythm. You see nature just doesn’t change from summer to fall over night, it give us subtle clues that a shift is happening. Cooler nights, lead to crisp mornings, and the once long summer days begin to grow shorter.

I have also noticed a shift in the season our family is in over the past year. With our kids now getting a little older, in jr. high and starting high school this fall, they are wanting to spend more time with my husband and I. Sometimes it looks like sitting around the island in the kitchen talking. Sometimes it’s doing something fun together as a family, and other times it’s sitting around the fire at night, talking under the stars, and sharing our dreams for the future.

What I’ve observed as we have transitioned into this new season, is that they are longing to have quality time with us. Where it once looked like playing legos together, or building a fort, now looks like just “being” together, in whatever we are doing. What I’m learning is that means less free time to do home projects, and instead being more intentional in how we spend these “transition” years with the kids. The years in between when they were little and had a bedtime, but aren’t quite yet adults or driving yet.

I was recently chatting with a friend about the upcoming transition of getting into routine with back to school. Every year when the kids would go back to school, it would always feel like such a struggle. A struggle to get out the door, a struggle to keep up with the never ending paperwork and forms to fill out they bring home at the beginning of each school year. A struggle to get dinner on the table at a reasonable time, and make sure everyone made it the soccer field at their own designated time. I consider myself a pretty organized person, but every year when school began I would feel like I was failing as a mom trying to stay afloat the first few weeks they went back.

My kids love to make a whirlpool when they are playing our pool. I don’t know when the last time you have been in a whirlpool was, but they are pretty hard to get out of once they get going. The current is so strong, it whisks you along, trying to get off your float feels like an uphill battle. But whirlpools don’t start off that strong, they start slow, and gain momentum as the grow. I told my friend that sometimes when we transition from season to the next in our lives, without giving ourselves the proper time or grace to adjust, it feels like you’re trapped in a whirlpool and trying to go the opposite direction. You feel as though you are trying to move through quicksand.

Sometimes life can feel that way too, when we don’t slow down enough to embrace transition. What started out as a gentle rhythm, now feels like a rushing current carrying us away in the opposite direction we wish to go. When I look to nature transition happens slowly, not at all at once. So I’m learning to embrace transition in our lives the same way. Slowly, so I don’t become exhausted trying to fight the current.

Instead of waiting for my kids to go back to school to get back into routine, I’m starting now. Focusing on one thing at a time, to keep myself from getting sucked into the whirlpool. I’m choosing to be intentional about our time spent together as a family during these last days of summer. And re-establishing rhythms that I discarded for lazy summer days.

Maybe you have found yourself feeling the same way. The same tension of trying to get back into routine, or even the struggle of trying to start some new ones. Remember, seasons in nature don’t just change overnight. It’s about the little changes we can make one day at a time, that help us embrace transition, and what’s next. A new season, a new job, a family shift, or maybe starting some new healthy habits. Whatever season you find yourself in, I hope feel encouraged, and inspired to keep taking one more step.