Autumn Reflections

Hello loves!

I don't know about you, but I'm so excited for fall. Cozy sweaters for the cold weather, the leaves changing, PSLs and apple cider, and of course, football season. There's so much to look forward to in the coming months that it's easy to forget this is a transition season.

Fall is the world's way of winding down before winter. The vibrant greens of the plants and trees begins to fade into burnt oranges and dark browns as their once radiant energy slows to a halt. The swarms of insects dwindle (thank God), and snakes and turtles disappear into the ground. Other animals spend their efforts on gathering food and finding someplace safe to hunker down for the coming cold months.

Then there's us.

Humans don't hibernate, we weren't designed to, but for a long time, we followed similar patterns as the rest of the natural world. We gathered the harvest, dried and preserved foods, and spent time together indoors with the warmth of fireplaces and stories to keep out the winter. Obviously there were still chores to be done, and most cultures celebrated some variant of a Winter Solstice, but the pace of life slowed when summer came to an end.

But things have changed. Instead of carefully gathering food meant to last for months, we can stop by the grocery store anytime we want. Cars and subways keep us warm as we travel from home to work, and artificial lights allow us to keep going long after the sun has gone down.

Instead of using autumn to prepare for long months of rest, we pack our calendars with the start of school, upcoming holidays and tailgate weekends. We pull out our lists of fall activities we'd like to do, sometimes cramming our spare moments so much that our "fun" starts to become an obligation. Ads drown us with reminders for Halloween and Thanksgiving, subtly implying we need the latest and greatest decorations/candy/food/outfits to make it a perfect holiday; meanwhile stores are already sneaking in their decor for Christmas.

By the time spring returns, people are exhausted. But there's no time to rest, not when spring and summer are meant to be our times of productivity and adventure in the sun. To take a break is to fall behind.

It's not supposed to feel like this. The end of the year is our time to pause and catch our breath. To assess what we accomplished these last few months, and to start dreaming about the future. The holidays that were originally meant to ease the longer, colder nights of winter are supposed to be fun and a time of celebration; not stress.

Yes, humans don't have to hibernate. We have coffee and heated seats to fight against nature's insistence of a pause. But while we are different from anything else in nature, we're still animals. We still need to rest.

So, this fall, enjoy the slower pace. Don't cram your schedule to the point of bursting. Listen to your body and take breaks without guilt. We have a lot of wonderful inventions and technologies that have enabled us to work around the cold seasons and darker nights. But those don't override our inherent need to take a breather with the rest of the natural world.

Live in the slowness this season.

Love y'all <3

"For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest. . .A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace."---Ecclesiastes 3:1-8