Beyond Knitting
Self-care express: September start
As I write this, many of us are preparing to put down our beach reads and leave behind the hazy floating world of late August. Possibly we are even setting an alarm to wake up tomorrow.
I know we’ve all started to say I can’t believe summer’s over already! because I heard it three times yesterday before lunch.
However! The end of summer need not spell gloom. There’s an opportunity here not to be missed. And that is the fresh start.
A very familiar groove.
Do you remember the back-to-school dance with fondness? (I do, because I was a little nerd, and also school was a refuge for me. Perhaps it was for you, too?)
I remember new clothes and planning my first-day-back outfit for weeks. I remember actual excitement when issued new books—even math books, a little.
(Of course, I also remember the excitement wearing off within a couple weeks. That’s the natural structure of life.)
But the point is, there’s an old and deep fresh-start pattern in our brains that we feel when the weather starts to turn and we change our clothes and the light shifts. Something awakens, and we all sense it.
September is a natural force multiplier.
Slate=clean. Pencils: sharp! That’s the vibe. Let’s harness it, and take a free ride on that fresh-start energy.
I can think of a few projects where a September start would be a real force multiplier:
- A wardrobe refresh and closet clear-out. Obvious candidate!
- Instead of spring cleaning, an autumn cleaning and winter-readiness project (and if you’re in the Southern hemisphere, even better: summer readiness!)
- Turn your attention toward community. This is a layer already baked in, because the school crowd is often so different and so much broader than the vacation crowd. Time for group projects! Book clubs? Perhaps political work, if you’re in a country where it’s an election year and things are happening?
- Learn something new. (I’m headed back to Korean class in a couple weeks. Very good for this crone’s brain.)
- Add a new habit. Stack it with something you already do, keep it simple, maybe pick something that can be done in 10 minutes or less. A stretching routine. Setting out tomorrow’s work clothes. Writing one sentence about your day after you floss.
- Add your even better idea here: ____________________________
If this sounds like fun to you, we would all be thrilled to hear what your plans are for a fresh start. Please pop your thoughts into the comments below!
One last thing: the season’s not quite over yet. Enjoy yourself with every drop that’s left.
Resources: For more on the power of a fresh start, see Gretchen Rubin’s very useful book Better than Before. For journaling inspiration, see Chris LaTray’s One-Sentence Journal: Short Poems and Essays from the World at Large.
Image credit: Picnic in Autumn (detail), Katsukawa Shunchô, 1785–1789, Art Institute of Chicago. Used with permission.
I’m knitting watchcaps (toboggans) like crazy. Our school system distributes them among the bus drivers to give to bare headed kids on cold mornings. This has been my summer ritual for years.
I love this idea! We have a lot of low income families where I am, who may not be able to afford warm outerwear.
Timely for me: in Sept I’ll be finishing radiation for breast cancer. Talk about a fresh start! I love the idea of Sept as a natural force multiplier. Another encouraging essay from Max. Thank you.
You will be better than ever! Take care of yourself and let the rays do their work. I promise, it does work – from a 21 year survivor! ❤️
Oh Maria what a day that will be! I’m so glad the finish line is in sight.
That was me last autumn. Calendula cream, cotton camisoles, and surrender to the strong urge to nap whenever it hits you. Be kind to yourself and patient in your recovery, I promise your energy will return in time. Best.
I love this time of year when the season change starts to creep in. There IS that feeling of a natural reset! Thank you for putting these words together and making this an active thought to use it!
A friend and I are finalizing plans for a trip to Scotland in October. We are both 51 and seeing our youngest kids off to college.
I’m going to Scotland as well in September/October, then to Ireland for a week. It’s a wonderful time of year to be there, and the weather feels much more like the cooler autumns I remember from childhood. I have Ginger Twist studio in Edinburgh on my list. Do you have any yarn shops on yours? Hope you have a lovely time!
A very long time ago, I grew up on a farm. ‘To everything, there is a season,’ was an operating principle and it’s been useful for a lifetime.
What a wonderful post!
This is that time of year for me, I always get the urge to shop for school supplies.
To satisfy that urge I shop for backpacks and supplies to donate to a local project that collects these for kids in the foster care system.
Refreshing! Thumbs up. Thanks.
Ever since I was a child, I have always loved the start of fall (school was a bit of a refuge for me, too). The return of cooler temperatures, cozy sweaters, blankets to curl up under, and being able to comfortably spend lots of time with a lap full of wool are all a geeat relief from the summer heat (which is not my favourite). And this year’s summer finale is a real humdinger, my daughter’s getting married! I can’t believe the day is almost here.
Thank you, Max, for reminding me of the joys of fall!
I love this article, and it’s very timely for me since this will be the first time I’m not going back to school in the fall. Good reminder to reset in ways that will propel me forward.
However, please reconsider using “everyone hates math” as a joke. I love math for many of the same reasons that I love knitting, for its elegance, utility and satisfying problem solving opportunities. I’m part of a group of knitters who all love math and have careers that center around it.
I’m sorry if you were one of the people who had an awful math teacher growing up who ruined it for you, or if you were taught in a way that stifled creativity rather than encouraging it. But I’m hopeful that in adulthood, we can all appreciate a good puzzle, a useful little calculation, or a carefully planned set of increases in a lace pattern.
I remember the first time I went into my local yarn shop to get some help with changing the measurements on a pattern and the very lovely teacher I spoke with said “It’s a simple algebraic equation” and I froze. I went to one of those “girls aren’t good at math” kind of schools and to this day I regret not having a better relationship with numbers. I’m hopeful that this is changing.
I enjoyed your reply…Math was so hard for me in school, but as I’ve grown older I’ve discovered that there is value (and I now see some of the logic) in having some decent math skills. The other day I was walking kitty corner across the street and the Pythagorean Theorum flashed into my head, making me wonder if it is the same distance to go kitty corner as walking 2 sides, to cross the street! Good grief!!
On another note, my daughter’s father in law (a math teacher) told me recently that everyone can learn math…but most teachers don’t have the time to tune into each kids’ learning style in order to help them. Sad.
Hypotenuse! Yes, I just used that word yesterday. I love math and had a career around math. My husband was a math major – we met through math. Wondering how long the toe will be on your sock? Count the rows in your pattern, look at your row gauge and do the math! Very practical skill.
Autumn is my favorite season. All of that sweater knitting is the star! Here in the sizzling South, the kids are already back in school, so I relive that back to school feeling through my grandkids. We are already beginning to feel the slight change in the season. Crisper nights, insects signaling the change in season. It’s the perfect time to whip up a new hoodie, which is what I’m doing, or whatever knitting project blows your hair back. Soon, it will be Christmas knitting time. Be well, all.
Actually floss?
What really got me into flossing was learning the toothbrush can’t reach the sides of our teeth where they touch, so flossing is brushing for the sides of our teeth. It’s amazing how much cleaner my mouth feels when I floss and then brush!
One of my joys in knitting is in the giving away of the project! But as a life long dental hygienist remember you only need to floss the teeth you want to keep!!
Thank you, Max! So timely, as I am a teacher heading back to work – today! I do love the rhythm of my work – everyone refreshed after summer and all those eager (mostly) faces at school open house and the first day. Then the settling in to focus on the good stuff, with the ebbs and flows of the calendar. Hoping to carry a piece of my summer peace with me for a few weeks as we gear up for a new year.
I am not starting in September, began 2 months ago, but feel I need to share. I started Tai Chi on utube. It is around 10 minutes a day, I use Tai Flow. I have had insomnia for 30 years. I am now sleeping 6-7 hours a day!!!
This is exactly the reminder that I needed to remember to sketch something every day in the little plain paper notebooks that I bought to do just that.
The 10 minutes of stretching are almost ingrained already, yet this helps me to solidify.
The sketching helps to jump-start my creative self and return to center.
Thanks for the reminder!
I think I was doing this subconsciously already! I just got all new moleskine notebooks even though I wasn’t totally done with my old ones, and a fancy new travelers notebook cover for them. Having lovely tools to do the mundanities of life is a gift to oneself! Also, I’m so excited it’s almost fall. Fall is my favorite season. Everything about it. (Except threat of wildfires in California.)
I’m going to (finally) commit to Carson Demers hand exercises at least once a day!
Not sure this is a fresh start, but definitely something timely that is making me feel great: Writing postcards to be sent to NY voters urging them to support the Equal Rights Amendment to the state constitution. Key point:FLIP the ballot because the Amendment question is on the reverse side of the ballot.
If only the weather WAS changing!! In Southern California we have summer well into September. Kids start school in shorts and t-shirts sometimes. But I’m confident that autumn will arrive eventually. I’m working on a fall clear out. Sending all sorts of things to charities. Feels good to get things gone and I hope someone else can use the. I must chime in on the math issue. Many of us had teachers in the lower grades who taught all subjects. Math was usually the one in which they were the least conversant or competent. So we got that vibe and ended up being math deficient, math haters or both. It’s not the fault of math itself. And…think about how often you need it. Gauge. How many stitches do I cast on for that garment or blanket? How do I make those motifs fit on my sweater? Let’s be a little kinder to math.
I did a huge closet purge late last week (and still have a tiny corner to clear), and I feel so much freer! I’m down to the few things I do wear and that helped me figure out my clothing aesthetic. Now I can be more intentional about wardrobe additions, especially since I really don’t have any winter clothes left! (I hated all the things I did have, except for my hand-knit sweaters.)
This coming week it’s all about clearing and organizing my craft room/office. It’s become a dumping ground for all the odds and ends that come into my house, and I know I have tons of things I won’t ever use. Since the purging fever is on me, I expect to have more large bags to toss, and a bunch of things to add to my garage-sale pile.
I’m always happy to get back to cooking. My summer cooking is fast and stove top. It’s nice to slow down and use the oven.