September is a month where endings meet beginnings. This stoppage and start to schedules, new temperatures, and season, invoke novel pathways for life travel. Taking stock, goal setting, envisioning an improved self orients my direction and occupies my thoughts. The roller coaster of September, mourning the loss of summer day freedom pivots quickly into the responsibility-laden leaves that alter my landscape. Chores increase, busyness necessitates time efficiency, and personal well-being often proves difficult. Without personal self-care, chaos ensues; I feel the initial drop of my roller coaster ride gathering speed by the time I reach the bottom.
My heart irks me to exit the ride and gain my bearings. Imminent death tells my rational mind I must wait the ride’s duration. The maddening short adventure contains twists, bumps, and rickety, ferocious scraping steel knocking my senses. Especially disconcerting is its furiously alarming speed. Initially short of breath, gasping for air as my stomach turns upside down with a sense of falling into empty air, a sudden bodily jerking toward unexpected directions alters my inner distress. Unable to assess my route and get my bearings while life’s intensity and destination has a mind of its own, I await the sudden brake that stops the ride. Gathering my belongings, I exit the coaster, smiling with reddened cheeks at such exhilaration. This pivotal finale meets new energy of slow, calm, and next step actions and choices. This is where endings meet beginnings.