It’s been fall for a while, but today the sun has that certain tint, and the fallen red maple leaves remind me–winter’ll be here soon.
There’s the usual stuff to do.
Getting the hoses inside. Turning off the outside water. Getting the snow blower started, and the gas out of the lawn mowers.
But there’s also the shift to indoor work. Painting. Repair. Cleaning.
Can’t be stronger on the outside than you are on the inside.
Some of that makes me think of family dynamics.
Guess what?
Kids ain’t easy.
A lot of you oldtimers are like, no shit.
But this past year I’ve had a sort of realization like, “Oh, this is what I’ve done. This is what I’ve signed up for.”
Hmmm.
Not sure what all happened to bring this on, but I do recall a moment of realization in the year where I learned all our spruce trees were dying and would need to be removed.
Like 5K. Plus house painting. Yeah, we bought a house with cedar siding.
How much do I do myself?
Do I really want to spend all that money? Opportunity costs…
Learning new skills.
Expending a ton of physical energy.
Risking trees falling into the house…
Spending a ton of money…
I have the desire to tackle it, but it’ll require some more planning and some neighborly cooperation to get it done.
Family Session, Inc.
Then there’s spending my life with 3 other people. Like whoa…this is it. Here we are. We’re doing this thing called life together.
How can we do a better job?
In an old Reader’s Digest anthology there is an article called Family Session, Inc. It’s all about planning together and co-creating.
Visioning and planning.
It all takes energy. Focus. It can be a drain, if it becomes a grind.
If you devitalize yourself. Don’t eat right. Don’t think the right thoughts. Have your heart in the wrong place.
That can drag you down.
The whole family should be on board with that program…do what it takes to make living together easier and better.
Better than the sum of parts.
Drugs and alcohol
Any addiction really. Just this embedded default setting that takes focus away from more productive things.
There are a couple events in winter like Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year’s that bring out the booze and some people party away. Some people will need to watch this tendency…
* * *
So, yeah. Winter is here.
It’s that time to go a bit deeper. Inner work. Heart and lungs. Mind stuff. Cleaning up.
Preparing.
My blueprint for all seasons is The Home Gym Health and Strength Plan.
For me, it all starts in the personal development journey.
I’m looking forward to another winter of contemplation, evenings around the fire, and going deeper than the mundane temporal trivialities.
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