Ahhh, September. New backpacks, sharpened pencils, the kid’s new socks don’t look like cat vomit on the bottom. Most importantly, the kids are (yippeeeeeee!) BACK IN SCHOOL!!!
Amidst the other Moms and Dads doing cartwheels, you may be feeling…well, dare I say it?? A wee bit sad. Out of sorts. In a funk. You may be coming off the best summer of your life and don’t want to see it end. Or maybe it was a poopstorm of epic proportions and you are so relieved it is d.o.n.e. However you greet the cooler nights and tinge of red on the leaves, you may find yourself adrift due to the change in schedule. You may be thinking, “Oh cheese and crackers! I just got used to this stupid schedule!! I’m not ready for another change!!”
There’s that word. Change. And what a time of year it is for it. September is loaded. First day of school, first new school, off to college, you name it; mixed with memory and nostalgia from your own school days. Add in the weather….you deny, cover your eyes, hum with your fingers in your ears but unless you are in sunny California, you know what’s coming….WINTER. The thought of snow boots and lost mittens is enough to make you start drinking heavily now.
So what to do to pull yourself through The Byrds “turn-turn-turn-to-every-season-” nonsense?
First, feel it, don’t stuff it.
Don’t muscle your way through things. If someone asks you how you are, say, “This sucks, but I’ll get through it.” Please don’t do that grimacy-smile thing that no one believes and scares young children. Acknowledge being bummed.
Sloooow down.
Even if it’s a half-hour, take a walk in the sunshine, grab a pumpkin flavored coffee, shut off your phone. Breathe. Ease into your new schedule. Maybe it’s the first time you have sat still and not wiped someone butt in two months. Before rushing off to the next thing, try and bring some peacefulness into the current moment.
Find something new that lights your fire and gives you something to look forward to.
Maybe it’s that continuing education class you always wanted to take or finally putting down a date on the calender to have the girls over for book club. Whatever it is, schedule it. We are so good at marking things down for the kiddos, mark something down for you.
Get in bed early! Forget Juan Pablo’s upcoming season on the Bachelor, you can hear about it the next day! Sleep is what you need my friend. By the end of these long adjustment days you may get to 8:00pm and want to throw something. Instead, after the kids are in bed, you go to bed too. You will wake in the morning refreshed and not draggy. Makes a difference. Trust me.
Learn to ask for help (YES!) SuperMama is WackadooMama. There is no medal for wearing yourself into a nub, only really good medication. Which you don’t need because you are going to have the girls over for book club and you can’t drink on meds! Even if it’s taking a friend up on her offer to do pick up or your in-laws taking the kids out for ice cream, take them up on their offer! We New England folk like to wear our self-reliance on our sleeves. I say ditch the Little House on the Prairie threads and throw on It Takes a Village robe instead. Better fit and it doesn’t make you want to shake your way through breakfast.
“Once more unto the breach dear friends,” you will make it through this transition with flying colors! Just in time for…..Christmas.
About the Author: Andrea Ardito is a freelance writer who tends to greet September with healthy denial. Using the above tips she is proud to say her drinking doesn’t commence until after 5:00 pm. You may read her blog at negativityisnotforannieoakley.blogspot.com.
