It’s September. While it may be the 9th month of the year, for many, this time of year holds significant meaning. In the northern hemisphere, it’s the closing weeks of summer and the month of the autumnal equinox, the last days of regular baseball season and the opening ones of American football games. It’s a time when pumpkin spice and apple picking show up on social media timelines, yet we hold fast our flip flop days, and we’re full steam ahead into school’s first term of a new year. 

“Life is amazing. And then it's awful. And then it's amazing again. And in between the amazing and awful it's ordinary and mundane and routine. Breathe in the amazing, hold on through the awful, and relax and exhale during the ordinary. That's just living heartbreaking, soul-healing, amazing, awful, ordinary life. And it's breathtakingly beautiful.” ~ L.R. Knost

It’s that time of year again. In the northern hemisphere, we’re in the sprung part of spring and students across the board can see the end in sight. University students are on their home stretch to finals, educators who’ve taught forever are preparing their retirement parties, and the ‘what will I do after graduation’ decision is upon us. 

“Stay the course. When thwarted try again: harder: smarter. Persevere relentlessly.” - John Wooden

I went to university in Boston. Driving from New York meant going over at least one giant bridge. Each time I hit that bridge, I’d notice something shift. My fingers clenched, my shoulders tightened, I hugged the divider, and focused hard on following those in front of me in order to make it to the other side. A few minutes after crossing, the color returned to my fingers and my whole body exhaled. Regardless of the season, state of the roads, or precipitation from the sky, crossing that bridge was often the most nerve-wracking part of that drive. 

A new month, a new year, a new chance to write your story. 

How do you greet the new year? 

“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” - Edith Wharton

It’s November: the time of full speed ahead. The holiday break is in sight, but there seems like there’s always more to do, more decisions to be made, more work to be done, and needing to have a more focused approach. Whether you feel like huddling under a blanket in your self-sufficient pillow fort or forging ahead with the force of a bullet train, sometimes the world doesn’t give us a choice—and the only thing left to do is the next right thing. 

What that is is anybody’s guess. It will be unequivocally different for every single one of us. 

“It (neuroplasticity) refers to the physiological changes in the brain that happen as the result of our interactions with our environment. From the time the brain begins to develop in utero until the day we die, the connections among the cells in our brains reorganize in response to our changing needs. This dynamic process allows us to learn from and adapt to different experiences.” 
- Celeste Campbell (n.d.).