The Gift of Changing Seasons – Why It Is Okay to Slow Down
I Have Always Loved Fall There is something about the cooler mornings, changing leaves, and earlier evenings that feels like permission to turn inward a little. And I think we need that permission, because for many of us, fall can actually be one of the busiest times of the year. If you have kids, September can feel less like slowing down and more like speeding up. School starts, sports return, calendars fill up, and suddenly every evening and weekend seems to have somewhere we need to be. My family recently spent a few weeks in Italy, and coming home made me think a lot about the pace of our lives here. We have bigger houses, more things, more activities, and seemingly endless opportunities to add something else to the calendar. It is incredibly easy to look at what other families are doing, what other people have, or what someone else is accomplishing and feel like we should be doing more too. Business can be much the same. There is always another goal, another opportunity, and another measure of success. Ambition is a wonderful thing, but I don't think it has to mean constantly accelerating. Maybe There Is Something We Can Learn From the Changing Seasons As the weather gets cooler and the days get shorter, perhaps we are supposed to become a little more inward too. Cook dinner at home. Read a book. Spend an evening with nowhere to go. Take stock of what is working in our businesses and our lives instead of immediately searching for what we need to add next. And embrace the season a little. Decorating for fall can be fun, even if your entire contribution is one Pottery Barn pumpkin sitting on a table. Bring some branches or fall flowers inside. Make your home feel a little warmer and enjoy the fact that home is exactly where you might want to be more often right now. For those of us in real estate, there is a business lesson in that too. Homes are emotional, and small seasonal touches can make them feel welcoming. Adding a beautiful bouquet of fall flowers to a listing certainly doesn't hurt either. Nature Doesn't Seem Concerned With Keeping Up; It Simply Changes When It Is Time to Change There are seasons for growth and momentum, and there are seasons for reflection, simplicity, and being closer to home. Most of the time, where we are is where we should be. We don't always need to rush toward the next version of our lives. Maybe that is why I love fall so much. It reminds me that change can be beautiful, that slowing down can be productive, and that sometimes a very good life is less about adding more and more about appreciating what is already here. |
