Welcome to Season 4 Episode 2 of “A Season of Me Stories” with your host, Heidi Kleine. In this episode, titled “Fall or Autumn – Define Your Season,” we delve into the beauty and significance of the fall season. As we enter the month of October, Heidi shares her love for the autumn season and how it brings about a sense of coziness and festivity. She introduces the concept of defining our own season and encourages listeners to reflect on what fall means to them. Heidi discusses the equinox and the balance between light and dark, highlighting the importance of rest and reflection as we transition into longer nights. She emphasizes the season of harvest and resourcefulness, encouraging listeners to be creative in storing and preserving the abundance they have gathered. Heidi also touches on the metaphor of autumn leaves, reminding us of the necessity of letting go of things that no longer serve us. She shares her personal experience of embracing the empty nest phase and exploring new possibilities. Lastly, Heidi discusses the season of celebration and gratitude, setting the stage for a reflection on personal growth and future aspirations. So grab a cozy blanket and join us as we define our own seasons and embrace the beauty of fall.
Episode Transcript:
Heidi Kleine:
Greetings, my friends, and welcome to episode 2 of season 4 of a season of me stories. And this is the episode I’m calling Fall or Autumn, define your season. It is super exciting to be here with you guys as we really launch into fall, as we, or autumn, depending on what word you want to use, as we are beginning the month of October. And, this is a season that is just, my favorite season of the year. I love fall. I love it when the weather starts to cool off, and things are just, a little cozier, a little, more festive. It’s just always been a season that I really love. And when I think about autumn, I kind of want to go back to this whole define your own season concept.
Heidi Kleine:
You know in a season of me framework, we talk all the time about how you get to decide. You get to decide when your season starts and when your season ends. You get to decide What you wanna define as, the time frame. What you wanna define as success for yourself. How you want to look at your goals? You really are in the driver’s seat. And, you know, kind of in the the ancient Celts defined autumn as beginning in August and so being so August, September, October was autumn. Now, for me, I have a little trouble with that because I’m living in the south of the United States. It is hot.
Heidi Kleine:
It has been hot all summer. And in August, it’s a little early for me to start feeling like autumn. Now to be fair, the the equinox does happen in September, but I really kind of push my autumn reflections back a month. My autumn is September, October, November, which means that the mid month of the season of fall or autumn for me is the month of October. So, so I’m curious, you know, what does the season of fall look like for you? What does it mean to you or bring up in you? This is a time to reflect on that. And I mentioned the solstice and you know the the summer equinox, you know Autumn is that that moment, that moment where there’s an exact balance of light and dark. Right? So the the the equinox at the end of September, there is an equal amount of lightness ness and darkness in the day. And we’re going to now ease into a season where there’s an increase in the time that has is spent in darkness.
Heidi Kleine:
And and I think darkness can be so interesting, because We we tend to think of of the inability to see as being, kind of, scary, but, also, darkness allows us us to really deepen our perceptions, right, really think about our feelings, think about our other senses if you suddenly find yourself with the lights out immediately you start to hear things that you didn’t hear in the light. And I just think, as we go into fall, and as we think about how we’ve had this season of light and activity and I just think of sort of emotion and action that happens in summer and in the light of the day. And as we start to have longer nights, we find ourselves, sort of, pushed to rest and to reflect and to spend a little more time sort of in rejuvenation and refilling are, refilling our vessels. We’ve talked about, you know, how we’re gonna talk a lot about People pleasing and burnout in this, season 4 of the podcast. And, This fall winter season is a perfect time to talk about getting enough rest, spending enough time in the dark, in the by in inaction to, sort of, spiritually renew yourself. And the fall season is also a season of harvest and a season of, sort of, bringing in the Props, but there’s also an element of, sort of, invention and storage. Right? Finding ways to Store and retain the resources that we’ve gathered over the summer, the things that We’ve grown and nurtured, and we’re now, sort of, reaping the abundance and the harvest. And we need to be creative about how we’re going to take those resources and store them and Salvage them so that we can make it through the winter, and so that we have the resources to get through a period of time where we might not have the abundance that we, had sort of on a regular basis over the summer.
Heidi Kleine:
And and I know in our, sort of, you know, material capital world with the big grocery stores now, we can get Food from everywhere, all the time, and different things, but when you try to focus on the seasons, there’s this, Sort of powerful connection to where you are I don’t know about you, you know, we all have the jokes about, You know, this being the season of pumpkin spice everything, but this is the season where I find myself really drawn towards, sort of, those Foods that, we are harvesting now towards the soups and the the Things we make out of root vegetables and kind of that that comfort food that goes with the fall, and sort of, embracing the the abundance of those Fall things, those things that are in season now. And, of course, when we think about fall, we have to talk about the lesson that the leaves give us, which is the fall is a season of letting go of letting go of the things that have served their purpose in your life, and no longer serve a purpose going forward. Right? So as the the chlorophyll It drains out of the leaves, and they turn their beautiful colors. We get to be reminded that There are all kinds of things in our lives that we use and need at in certain seasons. Right? And things that we also need to let go of, because if we don’t, maintaining them becomes a burden that detracts from whatever is out there for us next. And so I just encourage you, as you are reflecting a little bit on what fall and autumn mean to you, reflect on the idea of What you might need to let go of? What are the leaves in your life that have nourished you that have provided what you needed for a time but they’re starting to yellow. They’re starting to lose their effectiveness in your life, their usefulness in your life. As you are going into this next season, what is there that you need to let go of? I know for me, I am in a season where I’m really truly living the empty nest life for the 1st time.
Heidi Kleine:
Now you know everybody says be careful when you say that we have had had kids in and out of our house for various reasons that we absolutely love. But as of right now, everybody is sort of living their best life out in the Worlds where, they’re pursuing their own dreams and giving us an opportunity to say, what do we wanna do? What do my husband and I want out of this next season in our lives? And to be honest, it’s a wide open, It’s a wide open thing right now. We really are just beginning to think about the places that we wanna travel, the The way that we want to show up as grandparents, as we enter that season of our life. And There is a letting go. There is a pain and there’s a grief in letting go of the routines and the processes and the things that were part of what we needed to have in place when we were raising children and having them in our lives on a regular basis, even when we had them here as adults, pursuing, you know, extra education or things like that. And so just beginning to Explore what this next season in our lives looks like, and and what do we need to let go of to make room for what’s coming next and for to make room for the new. And then, of course, This is the beginning of the season of celebration, right? As we go into October November, and we start to reflect on gratitude, as we are giving thanks, As we are looking forward to the holiday season, to Christmas and Advent, and all of the other celebrations that are celebrated during this time, we just begin to think about this year And where we’ve learned, where we’ve grown, what we’ve harvested from this summer. How all of that is going to play into who we want to be in this next season of life.
Heidi Kleine:
And so as we, kind of, launch into autumn, I just encourage you to take a little time, you know, grab if you don’t have a season of Me reflection journal with the fall edition, I encourage you to grab 1, but if you don’t, grab another journal, grab a warm mug of coffee, tea, something, and and get out in that crisp air. Maybe find yourself a leaf that’s changing, and think about What this fall means to you? What have you grown and harvested over the summer? What are you looking to do next in this next season of yourself? How do you want to define your next season? Have a great week.