How to Ease Into Back-to-School Without Losing Your Mind

Every change in season commands a change in energy. And the transition from summer to fall may be the most demanding.

Though we always know it’s coming, there’s something jarring about watching the languid days of summer button themselves into the rigor and structure of fall. And this year’s transition is more complex and consequential because…well, you know. (Um, yes, we are still in the pandemic). 

Working parents, with still-healing battle scars, are once again wading through the uncertainty around back-to-school. Business forecasts and customer behavior remain hard to anticipate. To return or not to return to the office continues to haunt, and we can’t seem to collectively kick burnout and loneliness.

Whether or not you have kids, this season can punch you in the face if you let it. So let’s all agree to not let it. Fall demands that we shift into high-gear. But bumping up productivity shouldn’t mean losing our sense of self-preservation. 

I’ve been running a workshop with leaders to help them implement strategies to support their teams in finding productive and self-loving ways of working. Today let’s talk about how you can apply the workshop’s principles for your team or for yourself.  It’s grounded in 4 P’s: People, Priorities, Practices, and Promises.

Let’s dive into each one:

People

People refers to you and anyone who relies on you to be whole and present. This may be a team you lead, your family, your students, your community of faith, your customers, etc.

Summer, for many of us, provides a bit of healing space. We breathe easier, we take in more sunshine, we travel (or staycation), we have barbecues with friends. We refuel our emotional tanks. And the fall seems to want to push us back to empty.

So before the chaos of the back-to-school season overtakes you, start by checking in with yourself and your people. Are you fundamentally, Okay?  Do you have access to the essential tools and resources you need, be it childcare, sufficient Wi-Fi connection, someone to check in on your parents, a quiet place to work?

You can’t deliver amazing results without having your basic needs met. 

Here are some ways I ready myself and my people for fall:

• Extra kid-time: I hang with my kids making sure they have their schedules and supplies, while addressing their anxieties about the new school year. (I can’t erase their anxiety, but I can show up and listen!)

• Friend-checks: I check in with my nearest and dearest working-parent friends so we can vent, cry, scream, or do whatever we need to do to ready ourselves for the barrage of fall.

• Life-proofing: I get my...

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