Is September just too complicated?

On seasonal overwhelm, new thresholds + regathering yourself

Forever is composed of nows
Emily Dickinson

Hey Friend,

Is September possibly the most complicated month?

It’s not summer, not quite autumn. Filled with fresh starts, also endings.

You want to bring all the back-to-school, sharp pencil energy, but instead get hit by a tidal wave of WTAF overwhelm.

There’s a pressure to return to All The Things as we stand at the edge of a new season, filled with shorter days and chunkier sweaters. Stuffing our diaries with meetings and overcommitment.  

It’s as if we don’t achieve everything on our to-do list, we’ll turn into pumpkins on the 30^th September.

Please believe me when I tell you this won’t happen.

Also believe me when I say I consider myself the worst offender here.

My “what next?” energy is raging. Moving onto the next thing before completing  the last. I started September with a ton of actions to power move my way through autumn, all go,go,go. Without really thinking about where it was taking me.

Like I wrote out the season’s plot without paying attention to the lines.

And work, business, life - it all happens line by line.

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Post-Summer Scatteredness

This was a particularly long summer. A beautiful one, but long, with heaps of distraction and big changes. Also a book launch.

Again, I know I’m not alone. All around me, friends and clients are navigating new jobs and health stuff, empty nests and care sandwiches. Also, let’s say it, it’s been a very weird year in business.  What my friend Jess Lorimer called the “Covid Hangover.” That’s before we get to world events.

Maybe it’s ok to need some time to recalibrate? To build add some buffer time into September, and re-build momentum in a more forgiving and sustainable way.

To honour these transitions. To be in the changing moment.  

Rather than diving straight in and realising sometime in November that you missed the leaves changing colour?

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New Thresholds
I was going to delete this bit of this week’s newsletter – I wasn’t sure what it added. Then I realised this is truly where I am. So… I’ve got a very strong sense of wanting to uplevel in my work and business.

In October, I’ll be 12 years into Antonia Taylor PR & Comms. I still don’t feel like I’ve scratched the surface of what I want to do. Or truthfully, what that looks like.

I set this business up to work at the level I wanted to around my small children.

Who are now 16 and 17.

It’s been playing on my mind a lot. How I adjust my business to this new life stage. How do I reconnect to a different purpose within the business? One that’s not punctuated by lunchboxes and 3.30 countertop cookie breaks, football runs and the 5pm, “Mum, what’s for dinner?”

How do I accept this is a threshold time and that’s uncomfortable but also ok to be in?

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Regathering for Now   

This season of uncomfortable nows is really about practices to get to the next – a daily regathering:

1.    Take a breath

Make space. To sit with the interlude. Linger at the threshold. I know I need to carve out time to get clear on what the next three months (and beyond) hold. What I want to prioritise, how I want to be rather than what I want to do. I’m making a date with my favourite neighbourhood café and my notebook.  

2.    Take one thing out of your diary

Making the schoolgirl error of overcommitting, then unravelling the overwhelm is a strong skill over here. Last week I spotted a LinkedIn personal branding challenge a handful of peers were participating in.

Cue endless internal debate about capacity - Could I do it in the evenings?
FOMO – But everyone’s doing it.  
A tiny bit of self-awareness – You have enough on right now.

Less is always more. Take a look at your calendar and take one thing out. Making space is how you let more in.

3.    Trust your future self

I heard this one on the Everything is Fine podcast and I kind of loved it. Btw, a great episode to listen to if you’re a bit stuck, too.

I tend to give my past self a hard time. Poor choices. Questioning paths not taken. Times I didn’t listen to my gut.

Which also means I don’t give my future self enough credit. Yet the data tracks that Future Antonia rend to figure s**t out. Building out new business pipelines. Delivering the client strategy. She deserves a little more trust right now.

How about future you? What’s going on with them?

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Thank you being here. As always, every ❤️ or comment helps my newsletter grow. You can also just hit reply.

Back in two weeks.

With love,
Antonia xo

PS Thank you to everyone who joined me for the Primers 7 launch this week. I’m still processing and will be sharing more soon. For now, you can grab a copy here.