Here’s to New Beginnings

I think it’s only natural to honor yourself and actually take the time to decompress.  I mean, how else are we going to be on our game if we are feeling tired, running at about 50%, distracted, or even, heaven forbid, letting things fall through the cracks because we aren’t operating efficiently or more importantly, effectively.   True, I write often about “getting away” and honing in on the rejuvenation process (sometimes I think the French really have the formula for living down with their sleeping in, long late afternoon lunches, hanging out in cafes, late Champagne soaked evenings and month long vacations… then again…China did just boot Japan out of the #2 slot of world economic superpowers…creeping…creeping) but it’s only because I’m finally getting how important it is. We are only human, after all.

But, leaving means we have to be able to fully exit and that means unplugging. Literally. As I mentioned previously, I did unplug this past weekend and while I thought I developed a weird tick at first (called the “BlackBerry wrist fling”: your hand automatically reaches for the device usually found on the table, but alas, since there was no service where I was, there was nothing to reach for, thus my unconscious hand movements only appeared like an odd flip and search, earning a few questioning stares from family members as well as waitresses), I did finally, yes finally, fully RELAX.  In fact I relaxed so much, that I felt I became almost dull. I certainly wasn’t sharp.  I felt like a sluggish cat that was in the midst of changing lounging positions while napping on a sunny windowsill.  I was there … but not really.  My blood pressure lowered, my skin lost its reddish (stress and anger?) tone, and I could actually smell again.

Whiffs of fresh country air pleasantly entered my nose as I breathed in as hard as I could, filling my lungs with the clear, unpolluted oxygen in the middle of the single paved path that divided the farm land I strolled through.  Chevy and Ford trucks passed by probably once every 20 minutes, other than that, it was the world, the space, the time, versus me.

The sky was so crystal blue that the outline of the vibrant green trees looked like a sharp line against the background.  Bees buzzed around me, white butterflies chased each other through the golden tones of weedy blossoms and single monarchs flitted here and there, reminding me that when I was a little girl, I loved monarchs most of all.  I used to run after them, carefully catching them (poor things) at my grandparents’ home on Lake Charlevoix, Michigan.  My siblings and I made little houses for them and the grasshoppers we captured, out of Lincoln Logs. We had names for the little mixed family members until one or all of them ended up, well. You must know how that ended.  Ah, so sorry Mother Nature!

Taking a walk in the middle of the seemingly never ending fields of corn, wildflowers, forests and ploughed land may not seem like a typical plan of action this city girl would find to be cathartic, but believe me, it was.  It was “me time”, moments that I celebrated by just being alone with my thoughts, nature, clean air and nothing to do, no deadlines, no pressure, nada to worry about. At least for those precious minutes.  It can be kind of intimidating at first, especially for someone who lives by scheduling day by day, week by week, minute by minute, but I realized that letting go in the simplest form, is a hidden treasure that I sometimes wonder if some of my Washington friends have tried.  My mother even said, “Oh, you can’t even tweet this weekend!”

The value of this past weekend was unbelievably huge, particularly because it was the last weekend of a dreadfully hot, dull, sticky, uncomfortable month in DC which had us all itching for Fall to start.  “September is like a fresh start,” a friend stated.  “You know, we have January, but September, it’s another ‘chance to begin again’.”  While I walked in the sun alone with my musings one day, I had to agree.  September is the month that when we were children, we got excited about.  New school clothes, crisp notebooks so empty, yet waiting to have the first words inked on their sheets, new friends, new boys, new girls, new teachers, new subjects, new things to learn, new grades, new routines, new everything.  No matter what happened last year, we could erase it, at least for the most part because we had a partial lobotomy during the summer, a game changer, so we were all at square one in September, Ground Zero.

As we got older and went to college, the same thing applied, but multiplied, because as “adults”, we could do so much more and had more control of our lives.  Each new class or relationship formed could be an asset to our futures.  September was to be the first step in the next part of the rest of our lives.  It was thrilling to know that one could be granted a “do-over” annually.  It was universally accepted, no questions asked.

Post-graduation, the idea of running straight through a full year without that September marker seemed unfair.  How could we not have the kick start after the doldrums of summer were over?  And after we returned from our 7 day vacation, where for the most part in our later years when wireless ran our lives, we were still connected, even when we were on holiday (damn sand in the mobile, burning hot metal BlackBerrys in the sun), how could we not be presented with the fresh start?

On top of that, September falls as the last month of Q3, so as a sales rep, it was so not a new beginning, it was a month of hell trying to close as many deals as possible, get numbers in and prepare for the year’s closing.  The only thing we had to look forward to in September was the end of it.

Even if you don’t subscribe to the New Beginnings in September way of life, consider this.  This month typically lends itself to the freshest produce harvested, so anticipate excellent new menu items in local farm friendly restaurants.  It may be 99.999 degrees out and you have most likely melted into the blacktop by now, but don’t pshaw the woolly sweaters and leather boots on display in retail stores.  The marketing geniuses know you don’t want to try on a cowl neck, but I bet they have some welcoming sales, so think toward the future and take advantage of new merchandise sales.  Congress and school are back in session so yes, while it means rush hour traffic from H.E. Double Hockey Sticks, at least the annoying tourists are gone.  Between furniture, mattress and car companies, you can’t miss with the Labor Day sales.  And don’t forget that September is often a time that people move, so who knows what new hottie may be typing away in the cubicle next to yours.

All I’m saying is I’m glad August is over and Loyal Punch Readers … here’s to your own New Beginnings.