🍂 September: The Little Bittersweetness of New Beginnings

Posted on in Mindset by Stephanie Coady

counselling fredericton

September has always felt a little bit like a second New Year to me.

The routines change. The mornings get busier. Lunches need packing, backpacks need finding, shoes mysteriously disappear, and suddenly everyone’s calendar is full again.

But this September feels a little different in our house.

My son is starting kindergarten. 

And I’ve found myself feeling all the things.

Excited. Proud. Nervous. Emotional. Ready. Not ready. A little nostalgic. And maybe wondering how on earth we got here so quickly.

There’s something about watching your child step into a new stage that reminds you that parenting is full of tiny endings and beginnings.

The toddler years end.

A new school chapter begins.

The version of your child you’ve known for the past few years slowly changes into someone a little more independent.

And, quietly, you change too.

The transition isn’t always as simple as “exciting!”

We sometimes expect ourselves to feel one emotion about a big life transition.

I’m so excited!

But transitions rarely work that way.

You can be incredibly excited for your child and still miss the stage they’re leaving behind.

You can be proud of their independence and feel a little heartbroken that they don’t need you in quite the same way.

You can be ready for a new routine and still feel completely overwhelmed by figuring out what that routine actually looks like.

Two things can be true at once.

And I think that’s something worth remembering as we move into September.

A new season for you, too

September can be a natural time to check in with ourselves.

Not necessarily with a giant list of goals or a promise to become a completely new person by October, but just a moment to notice:

🍂 What is changing in my life right now?

🍂 What am I feeling about that change?

🍂 What am I excited about?

🍂 What am I grieving or finding difficult to let go of?

🍂 What do I need more of as I enter this new season?

🍂 Where might I need to give myself a little more grace?

Whether you’re sending a little one off to kindergarten, adjusting to an empty nest, returning to work, navigating a new routine, or simply noticing that life feels different lately, transitions can bring up far more than we expect.

And you don’t have to choose between being grateful for what’s ahead and missing what came before.

You can hold both.

So, as my little guy heads off to kindergarten this September, I’m reminding myself to slow down enough to notice it all.

The excitement.

The nerves.

The tiny backpack.

The big feelings.

And the realization that while he’s starting a new chapter…

so am I. ❤️

 

I’m Stephanie Coady (she/her/hers), a Licensed Counselling Therapist (LCT) with the College of Counselling Therapists of New Brunswick (CCTNB) and a Canadian Certified Counsellor (C.C.C) with the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association (CCPA). I’m a lifelong Frederictonian; completing my Bachelor of Arts at the University of New Brunswick and my Masters of Education at the University of New Brunswick in Counselling Psychology.