Nine Things I Learned This Fall

Dec 3, 2020 | What I Learned

This month, I’m linking up with Emily P Freeman to round up lessons I’ve learned over the past 3 months. I love what Emily has to say: “For years I’ve been engaging in a practice of looking back before moving ahead…We are doing our best around here, setting the intention to engage in reflection while also realizing we are all, in a way, relearning how to be people in the midst of countless transitions, questions, and reconsiderations. This is the place once per quarter where I share my in-process considerations, not necessarily fully worked out narratives. You’re invited in on the journey. I reserve the right to change my mind.” Here are my lessons from September through November 2020:

1. The more you try to control, the less you actually can.
2. Change points us in the direction of our priorities. I heard this in a radio commercial recently and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since. There has been no shortage of change in 2020 and I feel like my purpose and my goals have continued to stand out to me.
3. There is power in just doing the next right thing. You don’t have to get to the end goal today, you just have to take one small action step toward it.
4. It is safe to trust that God knows better than you do.
5. Documenting life is a good way to cultivate gratitude. As I flip back through my journal from 2020, I’ve found this to be more true than ever. Things have looked different but I’ve almost become more thankful for all of the good people, experiences, and things that surround me.
6. Simplicity is key.
7. You have to do the work. This year, I’ve been reading a lot of books on leadership, minimalism, habits, and goal setting but at the end of the day you’ve got to put in the work to implement these practices. Without doing that, there is no growth.
8. Fall still isn’t my favorite, but there’s still always something to enjoy. Honestly, I love the idea of fall but when it’s actually fall, I’m just reminded of winter right around the corner. And at least winter has Christmas and snow to redeem it. I think the pictures above are proof enough, though, that there are plenty of things about this season to enjoy.
9. It won’t always be this way. We won’t always have our nights and weekends free. We won’t always have time for a walk around the block with the pups. We won’t always have an hour to cook dinner. We won’t always have the ability to work from home. Allow this to be our deep breath and our pause.