It’s sweater and bootie season!!!! For some of us…
I love this time of the year. Although we don’t experience or celebrate fall in the Caribbean, it is easily still my favourite time of the year. This season reminds me of the beautiful complex that is – change.
If you’ve ever experienced fall, you know exactly what I’m talking about. The leaves are changing colour – creating a kaleidoscope of auburns, oranges, yellows, and hues of brown. The temperature is dropping so the wind is cooler; you can trade in bikinis for sweaters and cute booties or thigh high boots. And let’s not talk about the scents and tastes of fall – warm apple pie, hot chocolate, cinnamon, vanilla, the pumpkin spice candles on deck on or in your latte if you like coffee.
Ya’ll – I love it!
But living in the Caribbean means fall represents something else for me. We are sunshine or rain all year so this time of the year is a time of renewal for me. As much as I’d love to get dressed up in my finest, make angels in the fallen leaves, and sip on some hot chocolate; I often find myself in a state of re-evaluating and regrouping. I took my hardest hit for the year just last month and when I tell you guys it’s been grueling – it has been so hard. When this month started I really didn’t know what else to expect, I kept thinking of more things that could possibly go wrong whilst clinging onto the hope that this too shall pass. And well, it’s passing slowly but certainly…
Now listen, we have just over 70 days left is 2020. I’m sure many just want this year to hurry and end but we have to be careful what we wish for because none of us knows what the future holds. If there’s one thing I can assure you of, it’s the fact that hurrying the year isn’t guarantee a welcoming of anything better immediately. But what we do have is now. What we do have is today, let’s start here.
As the season makes a change, take some time to reflect, regroup and refocus. It helps to take a load off the brain and brings all the moving parts into focus. Just as nature readies itself to welcome a different season in a few weeks, prepare yourself mentally, emotionally and physically to embrace what is in front of you right now and whatever is ahead of you with gratitude in your heart and thanksgiving coming out of your mouth.
This year has been tough. I don’t think we can say that any more, lol. That’s one thing we all have in common right now. 2020 has touched all of us in some way or another. I deeply feel to an extent, many of us have stopped dreaming all together because of the toll this year has taken and the many bruises this year has caused. Some have lost loved ones unexpectedly, lost jobs, outgrown circles, the works. And yet, there are others who are flourishing like a cactus in the wild – only needing enough to get by day by day.
Through it all, you’re still standing and that counts for something. Where ever this note may find you today; whether mountain high, valley low, or somewhere in between, I hope you can find comfort in knowing that your pace doesn’t always have to be full 100 on every thing. Sometimes that 100 has to be split across many things to make up the full quota – and that’s okay. Get up every day and give your best. As the road of life bends and twists, there’ll be highways when you can put pedal to the metal and then you’ll encounter smaller roads where you have to adjust the speed. All the roads lead to a destination, all the roads are critical to your process. Learn your rhythm.
So if you’re a reader who experiences fall where you’re at, please pour a cup of something nice for your girl. I’m not opposed to you dressing up in your booties or sweaters either, lol. But more importantly, position yourself to regroup and welcome this new season.
Whether you have to nestle into the comfort of your favourite coffee shop or a sacred place in your home – grab your journal/notebook/iPad or a piece of paper and start to dream again. Write it all out. Talk to and about the woman you want to be during this fall season. Highlight the things you’re going to let go of and how you plan to shed some of the dead weight so that you can embrace the season that’s coming for all its worth. And when you can, take a minute and look out your window and draw inspiration from the changes happening around you.
Then do this:
Inhale.Exhale.Repeat Inhale.Exhale.Repeat Inhale.Exhale.Repeat
Always remember,
“Time always has it’s walking shoes on. We either get geared up and move in tandem with time, or we get bypassed.”
Shaquille Millar
I am still tending to some bruises from this year, but I am determined to apply the ointment of hope to these wounds and keep pressing toward the woman I am becoming. When I look back at 2020 some day it’ll all make sense. But until then, I want to experience each season with the right attitude and mindset.
Despite what you’re faced with today, I hope you can find comfort in knowing that this too shall pass. Just as this season makes way for what’s to come next, what is taunting you right now will soon be behind you. A song of rejoicing you’ll one day sing…
Cheers to October’s Finest!
