The Season We Are In

I have a confession: I am very much a summer person.

I love the long days, warm evenings, open windows, dinners outside—all of it. And every year around this time, when the evenings start getting darker a little earlier and there’s that first hint of coolness in the air, a part of me wants to resist it. I’m not quite ready to let summer go. I will easily keep my iced coffee and resist a Pumpkin Spice latte.

Recently, though, someone reminded me of the purpose of winter. The slowing down. The resting. The way nature itself seems to pull inward for a while.

That stayed with me.

It got me thinking about how much I tend to favour certain seasons—not just in the year, but in life. We all have seasons we would happily stay in longer because they feel good, familiar, or easy. And then there are the seasons we want to rush through as quickly as possible so we can get to the other side.

But we don’t get to skip seasons. And this time of year seems to make that especially visible. For some, September means a child leaving home for university and figuring out what life looks like with an emptier house. For others, it means heading back to school, beginning a new job, or stepping into something unfamiliar. Some are adjusting to caring for aging parents, changing relationships, or responsibilities they didn’t have a few years ago.

Some of these seasons are exciting. Some are painful. And many are both.

We don’t get spring without winter. We don’t get to the next version of ourselves without moving through whatever comes before it.

Sometimes a season is about growth and momentum. Sometimes it is about uncertainty, grief, rest, rebuilding, or simply waiting. And while we’re in it, we may not always understand what it is giving us.

I’m trying to think a little differently about this shift into fall this year. Instead of immediately wishing for the long days of summer again, I’m asking myself: What might this season be for?

Maybe that is a useful question for all of us.

Rather than trying to hold onto where we’ve been or hurry toward what comes next, perhaps there is something to be said for noticing the season we are actually in—being present for it, getting curious about it, and allowing ourselves to learn whatever it has to teach us.