A Season of Endings and New Beginnings
“September is the other January.” - Gretchen Rubin
I love September -- because while in some ways it feels like an ending for me (summer, we will miss you – until next year) it also feels like a time of new beginnings. Perhaps it’s all about the sense memory of going back to school. The smell of chalk, glue, and crayons. Shopping for school supplies and well, my other favorite Fall purchase: shoes. Filling out forms. Signing up for new activities. And getting ready to learn new things and grow.
September can be a time of renewed energy, and for me personally, it is also a time of taking stock and remembering. When September rolls around, I can’t help but start humming September, the Earth, Wind and Fire tune, which is very special to me, since my husband and I celebrate the anniversary of our first date every September 21st. It’s such a popular song – that 9/21 has been proclaimed Earth, Wind and Fire Day.
There’s another song that I always think of in September from an old musical called The Fantastiks, which holds the record for the longest-running musical of all time. The song is Try to Remember and it always makes me think of my Mom:
Try to remember when life was so tender
That no one wept except the willow
Try to remember the kind of September
When love was an ember about to billow
Try to remember and if you remember
Then follow, follow
My Mom, Sharon, loved that song since her birthday was on 9/11…1932. As I got older and life got busier, I always forgot her birthday day. (I know! I know!) I knew it was in early September, but the specific date somehow eluded me. Invariably, she’d call me on her birthday, sing her favorite song, and say, “Pamela, aren’t you glad I was born?” And I was. She was a force of nature filled with wisdom and what I can only call: sparkle.
Then the unthinkable happened on my mom’s birthday and we will all never ever forget that 9/11 -- and somehow after that I never forgot it was her birthday. This year five years after her passing, my Rose of Sharon plant started to bloom late in the season. And on 9/11 it burst into full bloom. I’d like to think it was my Mom reminding me to take stock, start fresh, and saying, “Pamela remember this day is also my birthday.” That’s the thing about days filled with grief, somehow for someone somewhere, they can also be filled with joy.
So I always “try to remember” as the days get shorter to take the time to stop and make sure I am using the tools that can help me continue to grow no matter the season.
For you what can you do?
Start that leadership journal you’ve been meaning to work on. What to write in it? I always tell my clients use it to track how your character beliefs (aka your values) are showing up in your behavior.
Start a new morning ritual like stretching. For me it’s using my Headspace app – the one that I was meaning to use all summer.
Declutter a drawer – not a whole room – just one drawer it feels soooo good!
Also, find a way to bring your team together before we all start hurtling through to the end of the year. Fall is a great time to start dreaming up new visions, developing new skills, and connecting more deeply with each other to ensure that you are all working from the same play book – or since it’s September, “text book.” If you take the time to retreat and gather, use the time to make new beginnings together both productive and meaningful. For example:
Revisit your annual goals – how you doing?
Share stories of what you have learned this year.
Start working on your 2026 vision now – visions don’t just appear, you have to put some muscle and time into turning them into strategy.
Whatever tune you hum in your head this fall – I hope you embrace the change of the season by finding a way to continue to grow and change yourself.
AND for the one thing I’ve loved this past month that might be helpful to you – I want to highlight the work of Rebecca Soffer. She is a global keynote speaker on grief, resilience and mental health. I am also proud to say she is one of our 10 Women to Watch being honored this year for her work and presence in the world by JWI where I sit on the Board.
Her bestselling book The Modern Loss Handbook has been especially helpful to me as I think about my Mom this month. And while we may know grief is a fact of life for all of us – Rebecca reminds us that it can also be a beautiful story we can write to guide and inspire our lives.
I look forward to the opportunity to work with you or your organization to grow your EDGE: Explore, Dream, Grow & Excite®. Feel free to reach out anytime.
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