Note # 26 – Treats to Get You Through the Month (Stresstember Edition)

Stresstember is a serious thing.

And it’s not just teachers who suffer from it.

If you’ve got school age kids, or if your last one just left for university or even if you’re feeling that sort of “New Year” vibe that seems to come with the changing of the leaves, chances are you’re feeling a bit of what I call “Stresstember Syndrome” right about now.  Everything is new, there’s so much paperwork and scheduling to work out, you’re running from thing to thing and still trying to adjust to non-holiday life – in short, you could use some treats.

Luckily, this is not my first rodeo so I’ve got you covered with some suggestions.

1. So what if the calendar doesn’t say August?  If Mother Nature hasn’t noticed and happens to send you some warm, sunny days, proceed accordingly.  Plan a camping weekend.  Go kayaking (like my partner and I did this weekend on the mighty Madawaska River.  It was glorious.) Go to the beach for a picnic – it won’t be nearly so crowded as it was in July.  Find some trails to hike – the good news is there are no more mosquitoes!

2.  Take advantage of every opportunity to sit on a patio.  At the café, at the pub, at the restaurant.  Go by yourself if you can, for a little bit of relaxation. Bring a novel or a sketchbook, order something refreshing and something delicious and take a break.  Later in January when you are shovelling all the time, you will remember this and thank yourself.

3.  Pay close attention to your coffee needs.  As you might have gathered, this is a subject that I take very seriously and at no time of year is coffee more important than in autumn. (Well, maybe in winter.  Also, possibly spring.) But in the autumn,  the weather is a little cooler and so it just feels right somehow to sit in a comfy chair and contemplate the universe with a hot mug of your favourite kind of joe, but let’s be honest – you probably also really need the caffeine, so I say indulge. Now, I’m not going to coffee-shame anybody for what they like to put in their cup, so if you are a pumpkin spice latté person, I say fly that flag proudly.  (I personally don’t drink them as I am deathly allergic to pumpkin, which I know is a ridiculous thing to be allergic to, but there it is. Also, I realize that there is no actual pumpkin in pumpkin spice lattés, but the name still scares me a bit.)

4.  Go leaf peeping.  I mean, come on!  It’s spectacular, and you’re going to have to rake them eventually, so you might as well enjoy them while they’re beautiful.  Pile into the car with a really good playlist, maybe take an older relative or somebody you’ve been meaning to catch up with, and go for a drive someplace where there are a lot of trees – just follow the crimson and yellow and burnt orange.  Turn off your GPS and try to get lost. Maybe stop at a place for coffee and whatever decadent baked good you’ve been denying yourself lately.

5. Go to an art museum and just wander around. I have a friend who’s going to Paris this month and I’m so deeply jealous of all the art museums she’s going to get to visit that I actually looked online to see if there was a way to look at gorgeous works of art without going to New York or Paris.  Turns out there is and lots of museums offer online tours or at least glimpses of their collections, so if like me, you are not going to Paris this month, you can still gaze at some spectacular stuff.  I would start with the Tate and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but that’s just me.  You might like the Guggenheim or MOMA.

6.  Even if you’re not going back to school this month, you can’t deny that there is a New Year/ Fresh Notebook feeling about September, so rearrange the furniture, start a new routine or investigate a new hobby, just for fun. Maybe you’ve always wanted to paint or make pottery, maybe you want to take up archery or tai chi or take an improv class.  Do it – you never know where it might lead.

7.  You guys – apples!  Apple sauce, apple pie, apple strudel, baked apples, stewed apples, apples with cheese, apple crisp, apple crumble, apple brown betty, apple butter, apple pancakes, apple muffins, apple cider…I think you get the idea.

8. And while we’re talking about food, let us discuss the all important packed lunch. Now maybe you have one of those fancy jobs where you get to leave your place of work and go to a real restaurant, and if so, good for you and please proceed directly to item nine. But I have to pack my lunch because generally my lunch break includes heading outside to the schoolyard to referee soccer games and keep peace on the play structure, so for people like me, the packed lunch is crucial.  Some quick tips – get yourself a good lunch container, something with room for little freezer packs. Always include cutlery and a napkin because you are a civilized person who shouldn’t be reduced to trying to eat your salad with a plastic spoon because all the cutlery in your staff lunch room is mysteriously gone.  As for content – leftovers are always a very good option, but if you’re working from scratch, I say go with a bento box approach – a little of this, a little of that.  Just remember to include a snack for the commute home so that you don’t get all hangry while you’re sitting in traffic.

9.  I know you’re probably not a kid if you’re reading this, but why don’t you get yourself some school supplies? Maybe a new pen that feels really nice in your hand.  And maybe a journal – a nice one with thick, creamy paper, or just a notebook with cheap paper that you can fill up with doodles and lists and thoughts and daydreams.  Take a little time every day and fill up the pages and see where it leads you.

10. If all else fails – or maybe just because you want one – get yourself a massage. You deserve it and you probably need it.  They don’t call it Stresstember for nothing.

P.

P.S.  I have recently heard the devastating news that season 3 of The Crown won’t be released until sometime in 2019!  I’m looking for advice to fill my Brit TV needs – help a girl out and tell me your suggestions in comments, please!