Autumn is Falling Into Place

Autumn is a complicated season. It’s also one of transition.

As we say goodbye to the carefree energy that comes with summertime sunshine, it’s important to keep our heads up throughout times of change.

This doesn’t just apply in fall; if you’re ever facing the aftermath of a new course of direction or are just dipping your feet into a new period of change—starting school, buying a house, starting a new job, moving to a new city, learning to be alone—keep in mind that adjustment periods pass.

The newness, and whatever struggles come from it, fade into routine and new sources of comfort. Keep your head up, and enjoy watching the leaves fall.

Falling Into Place

Originally posted in the August 2015 edition of the CU DENVER ADVOCATE.

Fall is coming. It’s settling in the air, as we sip on our pumpkin-infused lattes and nestle into our knee-high boots. As I say farewell to the humid urban heat, I can’t help but look forward to the change autumn will bring.

To me, summer has always meant freedom and free-wheeling, where anything goes and the consequences don’t seem problematic. Fall is a different story. When the leaves dwindle to the earth, accountability sets in and excuses are void.

In the short window between the end of summer and the official beginning of the fall season, it’s a messy couple of weeks. School starts, families separate for the term, and students study their syllabus attendance policies after planning out their budgets. Fresh produce or a six pack? It can be a rough transition.

Relentless chaos has ensued for me in this transition period. Recently I’ve experienced an electrified deer, a detached car bumper, a drugging, and an almost-missing person search. There’s been a lack of sleep, an absence of hope, and a series of just no-good unfortunate events.

I’m not looking for some sort of a happy ending to a turbulent time. Things don’t even need to settle down. Bring on the essays and meetings and character-shaping disasters. Hurl the tasks that feel time-sensitive and impossible, because those are exactly what I can handle.

Fall’s greatest comfort—besides bursts of colors and cheers from a successful Denver sport’s team—is reassurance that time passes and things move on.

Nature’s green tint won’t last, and neither will this undefined grey-space of time. I’ll feel the brisk chill of autumn air and know that whatever happens, won’t last forever. Fortune, tragedy—it’s a game of adjustment.

The best thing I can do is sip my latte, check my planner, and head to class knowing that I am capable of getting through. Fall is coming, and it’s every kind of beautiful.

Little by little, we’re falling into place.