autumn musings

Hi, my name is Jodie. It has been one month since my last post!

Seriously how did that happen? The 1st March, and it’s autumn. Not that you’d know it with the clear blue sky and the top today of 38C.

A new month, a change of season, a time to reflect.

Things have been pretty quiet around here of late, and that is in part to Little Miss Control starting school and just getting my head around that. It is also if I am really honest due to my last post for kinwomen, and how much it took out of me to write that, and a little bit of fear about going back to the  computer and baring my soul again!

But actually this post is just a mismatch of things floating around in my brain right now. Not enough to make a proper post, but enough to share, and as I am the one sitting behind the screen right now here goes:

On relating

I have written before about the community of mothers, but I am so overwhelmed by how much my last post in this space created conversation about the letting go that mothers constantly have to do. This is obviously a continual thing, but I think it comes more into focus at times like the start of school. I know I shouldn’t have been, but I was a bit surprised by how many with older kids were commiserating too. And so many checked up on me afterwards to see how we all coped. This is a very precious community to be part of, thank you.

On reading which leads to organising

I am on a non-fiction only reading diet at the moment, (non-fiction can cope with being interrupted) and I have just finished the book “Happier at Home” by Gretchen Rubin. I am thrilled for a couple of reason, firstly I finished a book (cue happy dance)! But secondly it has helped me clarify some self-truths and projects that I would like to undertake to make my own stay-at-home life, one of more joy. For starters it has prompted me to really get my study in order.

As writing is really a big part of how I process and find space for myself in this season of life, I have felt it was really important to get the main space I write in organised. So I have a new desk, a plan for a new colour scheme (the mustard walls the house came with just aren’t helping me!), and I have installed my very own window seat, made from an IKEA expedit (thank you pinterest). Already I am enjoying the space a lot more.

On learning and pondering

My online poetry course is definitely challenging me and I am inspired to write more poems, not just for the course but I am finding myself jotting them down at other times. The discipline of writing to someone else’s structure is annoying but a good discipline and I can see I am already growing.

I have also been using this time of quiet for some self-reflection inspired by this post  on uncertainty and this one in celebration of slow. They are seeping into my soul, distilling their wisdom slowly. I am letting the places where they resonate with me percolate, so that the good stuff will come to the surface and the dregs can get thrown away. Honestly, I find it very hard to articulate the work these two posts are doing on me, probably because it’s still in process.

So here’s to autumn, a season where the fruits of summer fall to the ground and lead to a harvest, a season where the growing slows down, and the world begins to prepare for the fallow times of winter. Here’s to letting things slowly do their work over time and not rushing to get to the fruit.

I do believe autumn is my favourite season.