Navigating September 

September is always a really challenging time for our mental and emotional health especially if we are in leadership. We often go into holiday season very depleted and needing deep rest. Then when we come back after the summer we expect to be deeply rested and engaged, ready to face the big challenges of the term ahead. But those two things rarely ever synchronize, we very rarely get enough recovery time to get to the point of being energized for a relaunch and most leaders feel a level of dread and trepidation because of this deficit.

The fact is, because our ambition is to slow down over summer, when we return to the intensity of the new September term, we're just operating at a different cadence than the one we need. I often describe it like going to the gym: imagine arriving at a treadmill already set to speed twelve, its rubber tread is spinning around the rollers at a very high speed. You look at it and think, “Okay, I need to run on this without falling over and making a fool of myself.” You have to move from standing to sprinting in just two steps or else you're going to end up face-planting. That’s how September often feels. We forget we're trying to make that transition in too small a step, and suddenly we’re face-planting.

It can feel like you're the only one who is struggling, but the truth is, we're all just really good at keeping up pretences. You might be church leader trying to get your service rota sorted and feel like you are already too late to it. A parent, dropping your kids off at the school gates, looking around and thinking everyone else is winning with their kids while you’re barely keeping it together. Or you might be trying to get your head into gear for a business meeting but feel mentally stuck in a different place. Maybe you're not working and are trying to organize your life and make progress, yet you can’t muster the energy or motivation to engage. This is the reality of transitioning from a slower pace over the summer to the fast-paced demands of September. The truth is you still needed that break so don’t punish yourself for having it now.

The Bible is clear about the idea of seasons, and I find that concept extremely helpful. In Ecclesiastes 3, it says there’s a season for everything: (Message version)

A right time for birth and another for death,
A right time to plant and another to reap,
A right time to kill and another to heal,
A right time to destroy and another to construct,
A right time to cry and another to laugh,
A right time to lament and another to cheer,
A right time to make love and another to abstain,
A right time to embrace and another to part,
A right time to search and another to count your losses,
A right time to hold on and another to let go,
A right time to rip out and another to mend,
A right time to shut up and another to speak up,
A right time to love and another to hate,
A right time to wage war and another to make peace.. 

But what Ecclesiastes doesn’t explain as clearly, is the transitions between these times. We know there are different seasons in life, and with them come different mentalities and approaches. However, the Bible doesn't necessarily give us the script for navigating those transitions.

That’s where I look to Jesus' walking model, particularly in Luke 9-19. There’s this beautiful travel narrative as Jesus journeys from place to place. Between each significant event—a healing, a miracle, a meal, a teaching—there’s this walking, traveling transition. I think while these moments aren’t always acknowledged or taught on, they’re important. The walking, the breathing, the time in-between things—that's okay. Jesus didn’t rush to get to the next thing. One of the clearest examples is the story of Jairus’ daughter (Luke 8:40), where there’s an urgency to the situation, and yet Jesus doesn’t hurry. Instead in that transition, the healing of the woman with bleeding takes place. There’s a confidence in not rushing, in allowing life to unfold in its time without fearing what might happen if you don’t match up to other people’s expectations for you.

I believe that with our mental health, we often run the risk of trying to make transitions as quickly as possible, particularly when we’re in an observed leadership role. Depressive thoughts can make us believe that if we’re not moving at the pace we think we should be, we’re failing ourselves and everybody else. We can end up fighting a battle between wanting to fix things immediately, driven by adrenaline, and wanting to simply opt out from the pressure altogether.

We can easily extend grace to others dealing with physical health limitations, but when it comes to our own mental health struggles, we tend to judge ourselves too harshly. These transitional moments are often the points at which our mental health can become most challenged. We need to extend ourselves, and each other, a particular grace and patience to make this transition. A little falling over in September is to be expected, let’s not berate ourselves for slowing down for a while. Some of us just need more time to make transitions—whether it’s between moving slowly in the summer to speeding up in autumn, or simply getting out of bed and into the rush of the day. Remember that Jesus simply said in John 14, “Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” 

Step into the day with the confidence to know that, in time, you will get to the place you need to be.