We live across the road from fields and fields of hay. The man who owns the fields does not harvest it, he lets someone else do that and they get to keep whatever they harvest. It’s hay season, which happens this time every year. I know fall will be arriving soon when I see the hay bales rolled along the fields. It only takes a couple days to cut, dry and gather it all, and it happens a couple times a year. This activity is a milestone of how the progresses in our little community. Once the hay has been harvested the leaves will begin to quickly fall and temperatures will drop.
As I walked and watched the harvesting, I thought about the things I do each year at a certain time that mark progress and the passage of time. These things have turned into habits that help me feel like I am making progress. These cyclical events have become standards in how life keeps moving forward. They mark the use of wisdom and consistency to create and support the world I live in.
What habits do you have this season of the year? Do you dust off your flannel and wash your comfy socks? Do you spend time preparing your gardens for winter and trimming the dead branches out of all the trees? Or do you wear your shorts and flip fops for the last time to extend summer as long as you can? Maybe you starting eating more apples and enjoying cider. Maybe you decorate with pumpkins and enjoy the smell of fireplace warmth. Maybe you start getting ready for the holidays and imagining the fun you will execute when family arrives.
All of these habits or cycles of life have become a part of who we are and how we operate in our world. Some habits and cycles are productive, and others wear us down and deplete our energy. The reality of being an adult is to distinguish between the habits we want to continue and those we need to break. Self awareness means knowing the difference and acting on it. So as you face the hay bales in yoru won world, be sure to harvest the habits you want and leave the weeds on the sideline to whither away with the cold of winter.
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