Ah, Fall. My favorite time of year.
One would think that, living in Oregon, having a respite from gray, rainy weather would be something I would want to hold onto as long as possible. The thing is, the sun is beginning to cause me more trouble with my lupus the older I get and it just doesn’t feel like the same ol’ summer fun I remember. It is hotter, more direct and unforgiving. That could be my age talking, but all I have to do is look at my wilted garden and see that it seems to agree with me –heat isn’t our cup of tea.
Fall sun, on the other hand, is glorious. It isn’t as high up in the sky and there seems to be a little more moisture in the air to muffle the rays before they burn into me. There is a more frequent, cool, intermittent breeze and the clouds…where I do begin with those? Huge cumulus ships passing through the beautiful blue lake above, giving me pause to return to my youth and lie there, watching them. Yeah, I make the time to do that.
With the changing of seasons comes obvious time for reflection. Grade school children get to report on their summer adventures to their classmates. The harvesting of the garden (finally) rewards the amount of work it took to get it started and keep it going. The air is easier to breathe and sitting on the deck is enjoyable again. This transition from exploring outside my nest to returning to it for the cooler months is signaled by the autumn flags waving at me from on our maple trees. I respond to their signal every year with little hesitation, no matter how dreary will be the days ahead. Summer was fun, but I’m always ready to move on.
Nesting is a primal urge, whether it is via Goodwill or The Pottery Barn. If you think that only women have this urge, you’re mistaken. The bachelor pad or man cave is just as much of a nest and offers the same need for comfort. We all have those needs and we all tend to them in our own way.
As the summer closes for you, what are your reflections? Does the change in the season prompt any particular feelings, plans or shifts in the way your carry out your days? Do you use nature as a prompt to get going on your nesting or are you perhaps influenced more by changes such as the comfort foods of winter? How do changes in symptoms from secondary diseases including Raynaud’s and Fibromyalgia influence your nesting? How do you feel about living within closed quarters, having limited sunlight and the cooler, damper temperatures? Is your nest ready for the months to come?
This season is when people begin to re-group. Back to 40-hour work weeks with no vacation time left (I think there are still people out there experiencing that!) Now that our kids are back in school, or we are returning ourselves, we may have more time to reconnect with our own friends. Local support groups are starting up again. The holidays and all the chaos involved, are just around the corner. Social events or volunteer work beckon. When we think going inside means isolation, the last months of the year demand our attention instead.
Surrounding ourselves with others is just as much a nesting pattern as decorating our homes. We need to lovingly tend our sense of ‘home’ physically and emotionally, by choosing what and who helps us celebrate all that we ourselves represent. Who will you surround yourselves with? Does a support group fit your sense of comfort or, when it comes to looking for a support team, are you someone who stays closer to ‘home’? Are you online through Twitter, Facebook and other networks? Are you choosing solitude by bucking up and flying solo? A little bit of all these strategies may be just what we all need from time to time.
Fall may sound like a lot of touchy-feely work, and to some degree it is, but it is a necessary way we take care of ourselves. Too many of us just don’t take the time and, I believe, we are joyous for that first day of school not because our kids are learning. Schedules return and getting in some ‘me’ time is possible, so let’s start getting the prep work on how that nest needs to be done now. Join me in taking in this time for reflection and exploring the things (and people) we will need in our nests for the long winter ahead.
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I encourage you to attend two upcoming events next weekend that I’ll be hanging out at:
Oregon Chapter of the Scleroderma Foundation Support Group Meeting
Saturday, September 11th at 10am
Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital (Wistar Morris Room on 1st floor)
1015 NW 22nd Avenue, Portland
Their website for more support group information
This group is open to all patients living with any autoimmune illness and their family/friends. This is an amazing group offering great speakers, lots of information and wonderful, adventurous people to get to know.
Oregon’s Lupus Now Lupus Foundation of America event benefiting our PNW Chapter
Mad Hatter Walk, Run and Roll (The Run is new!)Sunday, September 12th Check-in starts at 8:30 am
Cook Park, 17005 SW 92nd Tigard
Their website for more information and a link to directions
This is their annual fundraising event to help support the Pacific Northwest Chapter covering three states – Oregon, Washington and Idaho. A new location that is very family-friendly and pretty to boot, they have also added a run to the fun. More information about what this tiny, but mighty chapter offers can be found here and stop by to meet some wonderful locals living with lupus, too.
Hope to meet up with some of you at either of these events~
