How To Do The Quiet Return
I’M FRIED
From the outside in: my skin’s peeling, hello lakeside sun! my nervous system is jacked to a fiery 10. I just got back from vacation and a 10-hr road trip home.
Summer’s winding down, the new (school) year is ramping!
No matter what I check off my list during the summer, looking at you back-to-school shopping, right-sized sneakers, notebooks, and whatnots, these last two weeks before the first day of school are nutsy.
We decided to drive home from our month-long family summer tour in one shot, so we pulled in at 12:30 AM, bleary-eyed, Monday. It’s Friday and the laundry is still churning.
It’s the transition.
It’s always the transition that gets me
Whether it’s a small one, like getting out the door to work or school every morning. Or a big one, like your oldest preparing for college or coming home from a long vacation, time away. Transitions are tough.
To add a dose of ease to these thresholds, I gift myself buffer time
I plan at least one full day between arriving home from travel and getting back at it.
If I can, I prefer many days, a sneaky return to reset before I dive back in.
How do I do the quiet return?
I don’t tell people my exact return date.
I don’t schedule anything the next day (or two or three or….).
I prep as much as I can in advance, knowing that I’ll be, mmmm, piqued/fired up/revving high upon my return.
I clean out my fridge, take out the trash, tidy the house, and do all the laundry so baskets are ready to receive upon return. There’s always plenty more when I get home, but it’s good to have a fresh start. (I have an entire “BEFORE WE GO” checklist that gets the whole family helping.)
And when I get back, I’m very intentional about what I need for a quiet re-entry that honors my body’s rhythms. I get back to my woods walks, go to the gym, coffee on the front deck. I make time for the Tiny Moments of my life that help me reset. I make time for the practices of renewal in small and big ways that help me show up as the most grounded version of myself in that moment.
This week of return, I’m feeling all sorts of spinny. It takes a good deal of effort to remind myself to slow down, to quiet, and take the time I need to come back to this full, beautiful life of mine. Thank goodness for my post-it reminders!!! (Hung strategically around the house.)
I’m going to take myself out for a walk.
What Tiny Moments are you creating for yourself, to come home to, gently. Reminders that make time for a quiet return to you?
We love when you share your resets, ways to come home. On this new moon, it’s an inspiration for all of us in REVERY to slow, to quietly return,
Sandra🌈✨