I am a recovering perfectionist, productivity chaser, and people pleaser, coaching women to disrupt old thought patterns, let go of behaviors that keep them stuck, and make their joy an everyday priority.
🍂 Fall is More Complex Than Pumpkin Spice Memes 🍂
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Guten Tag, Reader, “I am so glad summer is almost over and I can come back to my routines,” said one of my clients this week. “I never want summer to end. It feels so much freer than the other seasons,” lamented another. Some people find summer too hot; others consider its days too long. Some can’t wait for pumpkin spice everything; others are grieving the loss of daylight. Personally, I relate to all of these views. (Well, except the pumpkin spice and daylight obsessions.)
Summer means missing and dreading my routines.Whenever I got into somewhat of a morning routine these last three months – BOOM! Another river trip, visitor, getaway… And while I miss my regular hours and flows, it has been good not to be shackled to them. Whatever your feelings about summer and fall, the equinox is an invitation for discernment:
Nature is quite generous, giving us a full three months to transition between warm and cold, light and dark, yang and yin, expand and contract, grow and restore. Culture, on the other hand, hardly acknowledges the need for such a passage (unless there is money to be made, of course; see the pumpkin spice everything…). Culture has tried to erase specific seasonal needs and desires from our bodies. Would we crave more daylight if we weren’t expected to be equally productive in winter as in summer? Women, especially, have been socialized to ignore and undermine their animal bodies. That’s why the fall adventure of the Midlife Wilderness Expeditions will tune into the transition frequency of the body. We will explore what our bodies need and practice saying yes to those needs. We will sort through summer’s growth and be intentional about what we want to bring into the fall: habits, thoughts, emotions, projects, maybe even people… We will focus on getting the best nourishment from that harvest to build the energy reserves we need for winter. Registration is now open. Please feel free to email me with any questions or concerns. Or book an absolutely obligation-free meet-the-coach call. I will see you back here in two weeks. If you liked this letter, please forward it to a friend. Always on your side, truly, p.s. If you got something from today's letter, why not buy me a coffee? In real life, or you can leave me a tip here. p.p.s.: If you want more of me than a letter every other week, you might enjoy hanging out with me on social media: |
Welcome to my Joy Letters
I am a recovering perfectionist, productivity chaser, and people pleaser, coaching women to disrupt old thought patterns, let go of behaviors that keep them stuck, and make their joy an everyday priority.
How do you wish to walk into 2025? This is me trying to avoid sliding into it on an icy road. Even though the Germans will wish you a "good slide" ("Guten Rutsch"). Photo by Mr Laine Guten Tag, Reader, Here we are again, the liminal week that the Germans call “Time Between The Years.” Neither here nor there, neither now nor then. I was going to mention the term “lame duck,” often used to describe the time between one administration and the next. But then I thought it was lame imagery, so...
As the creek tells its last stories before it freezes over, how might you prepare to slow down? Guten Tag, Reader, The land settles into winter. All growth is done, all seeds have been set, and all systems are switching from generation and expansion to slow-shit-down and leave-me-the-fuck-alone. Well, I might be projecting on that last bit. Certainly, though, nature knows winter is the season to conserve and protect energy. Yes, I am noticing the juncos, chickadees, finches, flickers,...
My prescription for the winter blues: smell the forest at dusk. Guten Tag, Reader, The sweetness tickled my nose as a deep breath carried it through my nostrils. Immediately after, my brain registered bitter and earthy hitting my olfactory system on a soothing wetness, so different from the dry (and annoyingly loud) air that’s being forced through the vents in my house to shelter me from the approaching winter and its blunt. Smelling a fall forest weaves a thread that connects me far, far...