As the holiday weekend approaches, it is the official end of summer. Yes, in the south there will still be days of 90 or higher, but already the temperatures are cooler at night. The first day of fall is still some time away, but you can feel the shift in the air and in the attitudes of people. Summer is carefree, vacations, day drinking, out on the lake, lazy weekends. But fall is one of my favorite times of the year.
For me summer has always been a busy time, but in fall I can enjoy my days more. Windows are open so a fresh breeze can flow through the house, but this time with no danger of pollen. Temperatures of more enjoyable as the heat of summer subsides, making outside patios more inviting. the humidity lowers a bit, and even on the cool evenings it is easier to spend time on the deck with friends, sipping wine or hot tea.
The weekend is the last blowout of summer. It also brings with it my father’s birthday – he would have been 82. And so a quiet toast to the man who was my first love, the man who taught me how a woman should be treated, the man who made my mother so undeniably happy.
This weekend also brings the welcome of the next season for me. I have worked hard to get everything lined up, and with a lot of prayer, sweat equity and faith, it is all coming to fruition. All I have to do is stay the course.
But what do we do when life is falling into place? That may seem like a strange question, but it makes sense. We strive, because we must always work hard to be better and to be curious of the world around us. When we stop learning and growing then we become stagnant.
Sometimes that means fine tuning our daily habits. Because ultimately our daily habits define who we are and what we are to become. For me, this means, as much as I hate to admit it, I need some routine in my life. I am working on getting to bed earlier, to get up earlier, work out, drink more water, read more, depend on technology less. Which means I need discipline to reduce the bad habits.
By reducing our bad habits, we open the door for more positivity to come into our lives. And who can’t use more of that? Oh, but it is hard. Because we certainly do enjoy those bad habits or at least I do. But maybe if we can reduce the frequency of the bad habits, then they can instead become guilty pleasures, to be indulged less often, but enjoyed much more. And maybe that is one of the secrets to life.
So this Fall I strive. And hopefully striving will continue to thriving. And the warmth of all of it, of a happy life and a happy heart, will keep me cozy during winter’s cold. After all, there is nothing like a fire in the soul to heat the heart and the home. So strive.
Life is short. Make it good.
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