September is here, and with it comes the whole “back to…” energy. However old we are, our psychological conditioning of associating September with “new school year” energy is strong, and can be hard to counter. The danger with this is that we can create stress that doesn’t have much basis in reality. We can also create anticipatory worry about things in the future, or we go into “full speed” mode and risk getting exhausted or burnt out.
Of course, there is a reality to the sudden onset of the return to routine after summer holidays and perhaps a slightly quieter period at work if other people have been away. There is also a reality to the slight downturn in weather, cooler temperatures and nights starting to draw in, however subtle. But our brains like stories, and they respond to our memory of “Stressful September”, so they tell us to expect it. We may find our anxiety levels increase, our sleep is more disturbed, we are more irritable or just feel more agitated generally. If we aren’t aware of where these feelings are coming from, we can let them take over and allow the stress to start much earlier than it potentially has to.
Shorts
We have to pace ourselves through the next few months. At the moment we should hopefully feel restored and have energy after the summer – we don’t want to drain ourselves too quickly but need to save some for mid-October when we can start to feel tired of the routine.
