Happy September!
I hope this finds you well, whatever this change of season brings for you.
I've just had a lot of transitions–saying goodbye to our kids as they go back to school (Gabriel’s starting law School and Simone her senior year of college), spending time with my in-laws, renting out our house and getting ready for Eric’s sabbatical year–we’re headed to France soon, where we’ve rented a little house in the Pyrenees this fall, so I'll be working from there!
I've been happy—as always—to have writing as a resource through these transitions.
Whether it’s the excitement of the kids starting a new chapter, tinged with the pain of saying goodbye, or the poignancy of seeing the older generation navigate health challenges, I'm happy to have the page as a place to process what's under the surface, what's thought but not quite said, what's felt but only messily, and what I need language to help me really see and understand.
So often, the words we say to one another don’t really get at what's most important.
Ever since I was a child, I've turned to literature and writing to get beneath the surface of what's ordinarily said. Without literature and writing, I would feel more confused, more alone, less alive.
I've put together some reflection questions that help me and that might help you.
I hope you enjoy them!
Reflection prompts:
*What's important that isn’t being said now?
*What's being lost in this transition, and what's being gained?
*What are you afraid of in this transition, and what are you hoping for?
*What's happening at this moment? For this prompt, try not to look ahead to the present or back to the past; be present, look around you, tap into all your senses.
*Explore a transition by writing about a place: when you return to that place after a long period or even a very short one in which something has changed, how is the place different, and how are you different?
*Explore a transition through metaphor and symbol. (For example, for me, the cicadas are a symbol of the end of summer–but I sometimes ask myself why, and how, and in what ways their ever-louder sound represents my own feelings?) What represents the end of the summer for you? Explore!
As always, you can write in any genre and use these prompts to explore where you are now or use them to work on an ongoing writing project. Often, there's a lot of synergy between prompts and what you might be experiencing in your life or in your writing.
And as always, I love to hear from you!
With love and trust,
Nadia
PS: I'm writing from Maine, where I'm helping college students register to vote--if you'd like ideas about what you can do to participate in the midterm elections, from voter registration to writing postcards to canvassing in swing states, reply to this email, and I can give you some ideas. I'm hoping November will be another time of transition.