Last week was a doozy.
Daylight savings.
Abrupt weather changes (an early heavy snow that weighed too heavily on our trees which hadn't had time to lose their leaves yet, resulting in two trees breaking).
Back-to-back illness in my family.
No childcare because my kid was sick...you get the idea. A real doozy!
But when we finally got outside the other day and went to the park for about 20 minutes, I experienced kind of a big moment for me.
It had been overcast, gloomy and gray all week, and I don't know about you, but I'm quite affected by the weather.
We didn't get a chance to go outside much all week since my child had so little energy and was feeling so poorly, and the foreboding weather made me want to cozy up indoors.
But yesterday, even though it was still gray and gloomy, we went to the park anyway.
And I found myself so grateful for the weather!
I sat outside and gazed at the shifting gray clouds, listened to the wind whisking brittle leaves off of the treetops, smelled the heavy, damp scent of decaying leaves in muddy patches on the ground, and felt the cold of the bench I was sitting on seeping into my bones and I thought,
It's so beautiful!
I took a moment to just witness and appreciate the shifting season, thinking to myself, "It won't be like this for long."
I didn't wish away the cold, or the gloomy gray clouds.
I didn't let my mind pine for spring or summer and bemoan wet autumns and freezing winters.
I just appreciated what was right in front of me.
What I, and this part of the world, was experiencing in this moment.
Letting it be beautiful and important and just right the way it is.
I knew that perspective, that ability to be present and open up to the beauty of what is, was a gift I've given myself through menstruality work and honoring life's cycles.
I look at my body and the world around me with different eyes now that I understand I am also always in cycles, the way the earth is.
My deeper appreciation for my inner seasons and cycle has really helped me appreciate the outer seasons too.
Connecting with our cyclical self is such a gift.
And this shift is still lingering into this week:
Each night I gratefully nestle under my weighted blanket that I only use once the weather chills.
Today I put on my favorite sweatshirt and savored its cozy comfort for the first time this season.
I relished the feel of the car's heater warming my cold toes this morning. In past autumn-to-winters, I've grumbled about cold toes, but this morning I paid close attention to the pleasure that comes when my cold toes get a blast of toasty warm air.
My mindset is more open to enjoying this season that's typically very hard for me to enjoy.
I hope you are also feeling that gift this autumn, even just a little.
I love that menstruality work opens this door for us to go into deeper relationship with our cyclical nature and the Earth's seasons too!
There are many ways to dive deeper into connection with your cyclical nature, and My Club Red is here to do that in both a knowledge-based way with the menstruality magazine
and
an embodied way with the hormone-supporting items delivered to your doorstep so you can physically experience your period in a deeper, more connected way.
I'm so thrilled for those of you who have joined this journey with me in our unique My Club Red community.
And if you didn't join our club in time for November's box but are ready to join us for December, you can do that right here.
Together we're deepening our relationship with all of life's cycles. And witnessing the ripples of change unfold around us as we do.