Dog Days

All sorts of cliches come to me : "let sleeping dogs lie,"" ah, the dog days of summer, ""when in doubt, nap."

But this post is really about transitions and how exhausting they are. August for me, is a transition time. And I've noticed how it is for most people: end of summer, hot days but touched in the mornings with a taste of to-come, school almost here. I have a friend who told me that Fall in Native American tradition really is the beginning of a new year--and that somehow makes perfect sense to me.

Transitions highlight, perhaps also increase the pace of, change. Time to get out the fall wardrobe, time to get ready for school, time to start thinking about the holiday season (which starts way too early these days--I've already seen Christmas decorations!). And no time to get it all done...

What helps me when I feel my knees buckle from fatigue? Acceptance. Acceptance that everything changes every moment. Acceptance that it can be difficult to "keep up" with everything in a transition--and perhaps unnecessary--so I wear white after Labor Day, so what? And acceptance that resistance, fighting a transition (more summer! more hot days! more vacation!) is more tiring and futile than acceptance.

What do you do to ease transitional times?