Embracing Our Limits
The last turn in the Wheel of the Year is underway here in Western Maine. It feels very much like summer during the day, but the leaves are beginning to fall and nights are getting cooler.
As sad as it is to see summer end, I’m ready to break out my heavier cardigans and tins of spiced tea. Do you do anything simple, but also special, to mark the beginning of autumn?
Embracing Limits
My new job is off and running. I’ve forgotten how much big life changes drain my energy. It’s not a reflection of the work or my colleagues - they are all awesome and I am really glad for this new opportunity. But even though it’s all good change, I still find myself exhausted at the end of the day. It’s just how I’m hardwired. Going with the flow is not really my thing, if the flow is too fast paced.
Because big changes drains my emotional battery, I need extra time to recharge when life gets shaken up. This weekend I’ll take it easy and putter around my house with no planned agenda.
It took me many years to feel comfortable acknowledging that I am just not as nimble as other people when it comes to change. However, once I gave myself permission to slow down and embrace my own limits, change has became much less stressful.
How do you deal with change? Do you love it? Does it stress you out? Are you like me and it’s a bit of a mixed bag?
This week’s featured printable is the original Mabon Celebration Guide. I have some new printables in the works, but in the spirit of embracing my limits, I’ll be sharing them in a few weeks, once I am more settled into my job.
And if you haven’t popped into the Member’s Library in a while, be sure to check it out. There are lots of other free printables you may not have grabbed yet, like this one:
Recommended Reading
Moving from Mother to Crone & This Week's Free Printable
Hello Friends,
I hope this finds you well. It’s raining today. Which is a welcome sign, as Maine is experiencing a pretty bad drought. There is something magical about rainy days. I have always loved them. While lots of people like to curl up with a good book on a rainy day, I actually feel more motivated to get things done on rainy days. Is that weird? I absolutely love writing on days like this. Are you a rain person or a sun person?
From Maiden to Mother to Crone
As summer winds down, I’ve been thinking about my upcoming birthday (okay, it’s two months away) and the fact that my youngest is going to be a senior in high school this fall. After 27 years, my active parenting days are winding to a close. And I find myself wondering, what’s next? Who am I, if I am not a full time parent?
I’m going to be 46 in October. From my vantage point, it’s neither young nor old. In some ways it feels just right. I’m comfortable with myself. I like the person I have become. I have plenty of life experience to instill the right balance of confidence and prudence.
Biologically though….it feels like a hormonal dance (rave?) is happening inside me. Just like puberty, when you move from the spring of life into the summer, the move into the autumn of life (aka perimenopause) is marked by a lot of changes that are hard to ignore.
To put it less poetically, some days I am a hot mess. My uterus has no rules. Mood swings have taken on a whole new meaning. And I could take a nap at any point in the day.
Anyone else in this boat? Anyway, if you’d like to read my full ramble about moving from the Mother phase to the Crone phase of life, by all means continue….
This Week’s free printable is inspired by Ralph Waldo Emerson, whose biography I’ve been listening to on audible. I often think of him as one of the earliest slow living influencers of his time.
In other news not related to influencers or my raging hormones, the 2022-2023 planner is finished! But given my history of typos, I still need to go through it one more time before releasing it into the wild. So, for those you waiting, please hang in there!
I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day and I’ll see you next week!
Follow the Adventures
From Maiden to Mother to Crone
I’ve been thinking about my upcoming birthday (okay, it’s two months away) and the fact that my youngest is going to be a senior in high school this fall. After 27 years, my active parenting days are winding to a close. And I find myself wondering, what’s next? Who am I, if I am not a full time parent?
I’m going to be 46 in October. From my vantage point, it’s neither young nor old. In some ways it feels just right. I’m comfortable with myself. I like the person I have become. I have plenty of life experience to instill the right balance of confidence and prudence.
Biologically though….it feels like a hormonal dance (rave?) is happening inside me. Just like puberty, when you move from the spring of life into the summer, the move into the autumn of life (aka perimenopause) is marked by a lot of changes that are hard to ignore.
To put it less poetically, some days I am a hot mess. My uterus has no rules. Mood swings have taken on a whole new meaning. And I could take a nap at any point in the day.
But even with all the changes afoot, I’m excited. I am ready to leave the Mother phase of life and embrace the Crone (though, can’t we come up with a better name?).
From Maiden to Mother to Crone
I jumped from the Maiden to the Mother very quickly when I was 19. There was no time for me to really figure out who I was, before I was tasked with caring for another human being. Now though, the transition from mother to crone is slow and steady and full of discovery.
I feel like I’m standing at the gate between my younger self and who I am evolving into. Looking back I see a young mom with a baby on her hip and toddler or two in hand.
Then as a 30-something divorcee, figuring out how to balance work and tweens, and trying to figure out who I am outside of being a mother and (ex)wife.
To my forties, when grief and loss made their first impactful appearance in my life and I had to grow in ways that hurt beyond words and standing still was too painful.
To now, standing closer to 50 than 40. Silver threads are beginning to outpace the brunette curls. And the age spots on my cheeks tell the story of 40+ Maine summers.
I am simultaneously strong and soft. Strong in who I am, what I can handle, what I can give. Soft in the knowledge this journey has not been without its hurt and scars.
I’ve been thinking about this new stage with a kind of trepidatious delight. I loved having babies and raising kids. Even when it was at its toughest, I could still appreciate the beauty of watching your chicks fly on their own. But now, the promise of freedom from childbearing and active parenting beckons, and for the most part I am ready.
For me, embracing the transition to Crone is about embracing wisdom. I know enough now (finally) to recognize that I don’t know that much at all. I’m learning to be quiet and really listen for a change. I am happy to slow down. To really look at the world around me, without feeling the weight of it on my shoulders. I’m getting comfortable with letting go of the lifetime of accumulated emotional baggage. Of societal expectations. Of parenting responsibilities. Of pleasing people out of habit. Of always finding fault with myself.
And I am excited to see the person that emerges in this next phase of life.
What season of life are you in? What do you love about it? What are you ready to let go of?