I use to be a summer girl through and through and whilst summer is still up there as my favourite season, Autumn is beginning to steal my heart.
I'm not sure if it is something that comes with age and life experiences but I am much more able to embrace change now, in fact as I write this I am confronted with change.
It is the first day in a long time that I have been able to fully focus on work, my husband is at work and my two teenage sons are finally back to college and school after summer holidays and a really unsettled couple of years of home study and lock downs due to Covid-19.
I sat down to do some lesson planning, reveling in the fact that I would have no interruptions or distractions (apart from the dog and cat!) then twenty minutes in my eldest son appeared back home, his train had been cancelled.
My first thought was one of frustration but then I decided to re-frame this minor inconvenience and use it to my advantage so I popped the dog and son in the car and dropped my son at college. I thought I would walk the dog on the way back then on auto pilot I took the wrong turn at the roundabout and ended up heading in a different direction to where we would normally walk. Now I could still have gone to our usual spot a different way but a little voice inside of me said "go with it" so we ended up somewhere different with a beautiful view and it was a welcome change.
When I got home the dog settled down for a sleep leaving me to really focus.
The different surroundings and fresh air had cleared space in my brain, leaving me feeling inspired and motivated.
Sometimes we do so much out of habit without really being in the moment.
So what I'm trying to say is that change can be positive and that autumn is a brilliant reminder, with all of it's beautiful colours and the leaves shedding, it shows us that it is ok to let go of anything that no longer serves us and that can be many things - bad habits, unhealthy thought patterns, unhappy relationships, heartache, anything that you feel could be holding you back.
That doesn't mean blocking things out as that would be a disservice to ourselves.
Feel everything, the good and the bad and fully embrace all of the emotions that come up and then when we fully accept them rather than blocking them we are more able to let go and move on.
The next time you feel overwhelmed or overcome with emotion close your eyes and say to yourself "go with it" and see where life will take you.
I will be swooshing and scrunching my way through the beautifully hued leaves that Autumn presents to me, knowing that I am one with all of nature and she is one with me, in all of her seasons.
