New glasses new haircuts new shoes
on the always magical 'back to school/back to work' time of year
Late summer/early fall is such an interesting transition time. Harvest, preservation, and preparation for a long slow winter are baked into our DNA but how do so many of us square that when are far from our analog agrarian roots. When we live and work in communities with 24 hour light sources and expectations of hyper productivity, not to mention the quickening timeline of THE HOLIDAY SEASONS and all the energy that brings, good or bad. Long slow winter?? Sign me up! Sigh… some day…
This time of year also brings renewal in the form of self care and supporting community. As the air turns brisk with the promise of fall there are celebrations of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur to offer reflection and a sense of possibility for the future, pollinators are busier than ever getting the last work done before dormancy sets in, and somehow it seems like everyone has new glasses, new haircuts, and new shoes.
Speaking of which, enjoy this cringe worthy bonus material I dug up for you. Truly. It's a thing of whatever the opposite of beauty and good taste might be.
Honestly I love the feeling of fresh new starts, hopefulness, and activity this time of year brings with ‘back to school’ and ‘back to work’. As a full time symphony musician my calendar year hasn’t changed much since I entered Kindergarten. School and symphony schedule mean I’m wearing a uniform and showing up on someone else’s timeline with regularity from late August into early June. Half June through half August is my own personal long exhale. To be clear, that long exhale still takes the form of working, but in this case I’m exercising a lot of personal agency while collaborating on small ensemble programs where - and this is key - we schedule rehearsals based on daily weather patterns so we can take full advantage of the lake and the woods.
Personal time for me shifts a lot with the waning daylight hours and a very busy symphony schedule starting up in September. The relative quiet and calm of liminal spaces and hours become even more treasured as we hop right on to a fast moving clackety train of one performance to the next to the next all the way out to June. When it seems like forever I remind myself it’s still one show at a time, one day at a time, and if I’m really feeling heavy a walk outside pretty much always helps. And then suddenly it’s June! Because even when the days are long, the years are somehow short.
How do you experience the late summer/early fall? Is it a renewal time for you? Hibernation prep? Excitement for winter activity or the holidays? Hit the comments and share your thoughts about seasonal changes!
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