End of Summer Choices

Wow!  Tomorrow is August 1st.  Where has the summer gone…  It’s been way too short and now it’s almost time to take my son back to school.  So while the heat outside says that summer is still in full swing, my school calendar tells me that it’s almost time to get back into the school state of mind.  I have less than 2 weeks before he’s back at school.  That’s not a lot of time to fit everything in that I’d love to do.  So, it’s time to make end of summer choices.

We’re confronted with choices every single day.  Do we go left or do we go right?  Or maybe straight?  Each choice that you make leads you down a different path.  Right now, my choice is do I spend a little extra time with my son before he goes back to school or do I finish my own work that has piled up over the summer?  Do I take a bit more laid back approach to life for the next couple of weeks or do I push forward as I usually do?

This would seem like an easy choice.  After all my son is moving out again shortly.  The thing is he’s 17 and spending time with a moody 17 year old can be tricky.  He’s not really receptive to it most of the time, but I find that I want to create those memories anyway.  I want to spend time with him before he moves away again even if he is grumpy about it.

As I write this, I know that my choice is already made.  There’s really no question which way I’ll go.  I’ll spend time with him getting him ready to move back to school.  That will mean a little less time spent on my business or my other interests but I know that I’ll have that time again when he’s at school.  So, this time with him will include doing things like getting his tuxedo pants hemmed and taking him shopping to buy things he’ll need at school.  This may not be the memories that I was hoping to create, but it is what he needs from me right now.  I’ll consciously make the choice to be there for him as he makes this transition again.  I know that later I’ll have time after to catch up on my work.  I’m choosing to let life over the next two weeks ebb and flow as it naturally will rather than to force some sort of order on it.

When I think about this short time period in this way, it is evident to me that in the past I’ve approached these transition times with a bit of unease.  I often feel like it’s been thrust upon me and I just have to hold on until it passes.  However, when I approach this period with a sense of my own choosing how I will show up to it, then my mindset is different.  It’s calmer and I have a sense of making my choices rather than having those choices made for me.  This makes these end of summer choices easier for me to bring into my life.

In order to have a choice in something, you first have to accept your current circumstances.  For me that means life is about to transition again to my time as an empty nester.  In this instance, I accept that my son is moving out again and I have certain choices that I can make around this.  Acceptance leads to choice and that leads me to feeling more freedom in my life as I know that I chose my path rather than waiting for life to take over my schedule.

Noticing our choices in life can seem easy but often we go around thinking that we have no choice in a certain matter.  Most of the time that feeling comes from not accepting a circumstance.  Without that acceptance, we feel forced.  I’ve been there plenty of times.  Acceptance doesn’t always come easy for me, but I’m learning that when I can accept something, then my choices are obvious.  In turn, I have less difficulty choosing which one to follow.

So, my end of summer is going to involve spending extra time getting my son and all of his stuff ready to go back to school.  If you need me, look under his big pile of clothes that I can’t get him to put away.  I might have gotten lost trying to bring order to his chaotic room…

I’d love to hear about your end of summer transition.  Are you expecting a smooth one to a new school year?  Or are you dreading what comes next?  Leave a comment and share with us.