Years ago, when I was working with kids(!) in a school, I used to enjoy reading the picture book Gather Up, Gather In by M. C. Helldorfer. This is a book about the seasons, but as you may glean from the title, autumn is somewhat of a climax in this depiction, the time to gather up and gather in the bounty of the year.
I was thinking about this in terms of Succos as Chag Ha’asif, metaphorically. After the reflective intensity of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, maybe Succos can be a time to gather up and gather in the lessons of the year in a broader sense. What has worked well? What might benefit from being tweaked or adjusted? What are the “learnings” that can inform your choices in the year ahead?
As an example, I did some review of and reflection on my work life over the past year. This time last year, I quite badly wanted to change jobs. I applied to a variety of jobs and kept at it sporadically throughout the year, with nothing promising emerging. In November, I finished my Journal to the Self certification and over the winter and spring, I taught the course three times to women and a modified version to sixth grade girls. In the spring, I got credentialed to accept Medicare as a private practice therapist. I also finished a rough draft of my PhD dissertation proposal. I continued teaching college courses. In May, I started working with a life coach, focusing on gaining clarity on my work goals (you can see why). Over the summer, my day job changed a lot, for the better.
What I’ve learned is that I don’t enjoy entrepreneurship and self-promotion, and do enjoy leadership and supervisory roles. I also love teaching in different capacities. So these are the areas I will focus my energy on this year: growing into roles at work with more responsibility, and progressing towards my PhD with an eye towards opening up more teaching opportunities. And who knows what else may come along, but these are places to start.
This kind of gathering up and gathering in can work for other areas of life, too. Health and wellness, finances, friendship, hobbies/learning/fun (yeah, I somehow see those as one area, ha)…With a gentle touch, looking over what you have gleaned from the year.
I hope this is helpful!
One more post to follow be”H before Yom Tov. Thank you for being here!
