I’ll be honest with you – I hate this time of year.
Not September itself, exactly. More the feeling that arrives with it. The light starts to change, the evenings pull in, and somewhere in the middle of all that, I feel something shift in me too.
I love summer. I love long light mornings and evenings that don’t rush you indoors. I love the sun on my skin. I feel like myself in the light – open, easy, positive and free! And when the darker months roll in, I feel myself get a bit smaller. A bit more irritable. A bit heavier, if that makes sense.
I know I’m not the only one who feels this. There’s a kind of quiet grief that comes with the end of summer – even though nothing bad has actually happened. The season just ends, and something in us mourns it a little.
I think it hits me harder than most because of what I try to be for other people. My whole business – Movement is Freedom, the classes, workshops and retreats – is built around being a light for people. Helping people feel stronger, freer, more themselves. And there’s a part of me that used to think I wasn’t allowed to struggle with the dark months, because it didn’t fit the persona.
But I don’t think that’s true anymore. I think being a light doesn’t mean never feeling the dark. It means knowing what helps you find your way back to it, then taking action to feel the best you can on any given day. For me, that’s always movement and being outdoors in nature. That’s what keeps me motivated to show up for my class members each week, even when I don’t feel like it.
What helps you find your way back to the light?
So if, like me, the end of summer gets you too – let’s remind ourselves of what lights us up, and do more of it.
You’ll never regret that walk, run, bike ride or Pilates class. Sometimes it’s the getting there that’s the hard part.
Together, we’ve got this!
Rhi