Fall vs. Autumn
Autumn is finally here in Shanghai. I am loving it. The skies are blue. The air is (currently) fresh and the temperature is wonderful. Back in Britain, these days wold have felt like the heady days of Summer. Here though, it is wonderfully Autumn. But it makes me struggle with the Fall vs. Autumn thing.
The leaves here are very reluctant to fall. They change colour (a bit… my soul belongs in New England in the Fall) but they hang on to the trees, they linger. They do not ‘fall’. It seems they wait until Spring when new leaves literally have to push them off the branches. So I am missing the piles of dry leaves to kick around it, and I therefore am struggling with the concept that this is Fall. It’s not.
So I get to remain British and claim the word Autumn instead.
The air in the morning, as I cycle the eldest down to the school gate, is fresh and crisp. It wakes me up and makes me smile. Plus it means that I need a ‘pointless top‘ to just keep the chill off – so, I am in heaven. I was built for Autumn.
And still the golden sunlight in the mid to late morning is warm – and so I can happily sit on the football field and wait for however long, as whichever of the kids finishes off playing. These days are rare. I’ll be less keen on the early Sunday football starts when I need to bundle everyone up and keep jogging on the spot to keep warm while watching…
Fall away
Now is also one of my favourite times to start afresh. The ‘other‘ Spring clean time.
We have had a habit of moving house (country, continent) around this time. So with that, and the new school year, it is always a time of clearing. Decluttering. Letting things ‘fall away‘ to create some space for growth, for change.
The storage cupboard was finally tackled at the weekend. As was ‘the study‘. It was a room that we really didn’t use. It had sofas and bookshelves and tables and… and… boxes of paperwork that had never been sorted through.
It’s still (very much) a work in progress. But it is less cluttered. We can see the wood for the trees. I can sit on the (one) sofa now and look out of the window, towards the trees and the sky and I can see how I can create a room of my own here.
My space. For my work. (It’s a L’Oréal moment – because I’m worth it…)
It’s just one of those things that a woman should have…(OK, a dubious link to this, but – a good friend shared this with me yesterday and it was too good to not pass on…This is the woman I hope I can grow into)
Fall. Let it Unfold
Another wise friend shared this post with a gang of us – about letting life unfold – and it seemed to sit well with the slowing down of Fall. Of Autumn.
What would happen if I stopped trying to rush. Stopped trying to ‘achieve‘ and instead just ‘experienced‘ all that life was sending my way?
What if I could stop trying to fast-forward through the awkward bits – to get to the so-called good bits – and instead trust that it was all moving along just as was intended?
What if, like the Shanghai trees, I could just let it unfold – knowing full well that everything would happen just in time for the next thing?Even if it didn’t fit into my pre-ordained schedule.
Wouldn’t that be a wonderful thing?
