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Today is the first day of school for many students in Manitoba, and back to school season comes with many fresh-start feelings you never seem to shake, even as an adult who has been out of school for (redacted) years.
Nexties know I believe August is the Sunday of the year, so September is the Monday. What September is not is the “new January,” an idea I have seen everywhere these past weeks. Some people love to stress themselves out, I tell you.
September is September! Leave it alone!
Let’s let September be September. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press files)
I understand the comparison. As in January, you’re coming off of a holiday-filled season during which schedules are shot to smithereens, you’re eating chips for dinner and routines have relaxed into oblivion.
But September is nice. September is optimistic. September is possibility. January, owing in large part to diet culture, is punitive. It’s overwhelming. It’s “new year, new you,” often at great expense (emotional, financial, you name it).
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We don’t, as a culture, need to do to September what we did to January. We don’t need to bring the toxic language of relentless, unceasing self-improvement to another already vulnerable time of year.
Because, for kids and parents especially, September already comes with changes, and some of those changes are big. Live long enough and you’ll see the “First Day of Kindergarten” photos on Facebook become “last day at home before university” photos.
So, can I submit that we do a Slow September, or at least, a Sustainable September. Maybe instead of trying to overhaul our lives, we could just ease into our routines and have the wisdom to recognize if they aren’t working or need more flexibility from us.
Just once, it’d be chill if we took our cues from nature. Look around. Everything’s getting ready to go to sleep, to go fallow. But it’s not rushing. You don’t need to, either.
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