Welcome back to our Summer Conversations.

Over the last few weeks I’ve asked some worthy questions and the responses that landed in my inbox were thoughtful, honest, and in some cases surprisingly emotional. 

It seems many of us have spent years assuming that feeling restless, disconnected, or ready for something different meant we needed to fix ourselves somehow. Maybe we needed a better plan, a little more discipline, a little more motivation.

But what if that feeling is actually information?

One of the things I love about summer is that it naturally disrupts our routines. Schedules shift, kids come and go, vacations are anticipated, and life loosens its grip just enough to give us a permission slip to BE. 

I'm living some of that change in real time this summer as our youngest gets ready to head off to college. Another season is beginning for him—and for me—and it's making me pay attention in a different way.

In that extra space, even if it's only a little, we begin to notice things we may have been too busy to see before.

Sometimes what we notice is beautiful, and other times it's uncomfortable.

Sometimes we realize we're happier than we thought, and other times we recognize that we've been tolerating things that no longer work.

Or maybe we've been moving so quickly we haven't stopped long enough to ask what we actually want now—not five years ago, not when we first built this version of our life, but now.

That's why I've come to believe every season has something to teach us if we're willing to pay attention.

Not because life is constantly handing us grand lessons, but because we're always evolving. As we change, our priorities shift. What energizes us shifts. What feels meaningful shifts. Even our capacity changes.

The question isn't whether those things are happening.

The question is whether we're noticing them.

And if we're listening.

So here's the question I've been sitting with this week:

What is this summer season showing you?

Not what should it be showing you or what you wish it were showing you.

What is it already trying to tell you?

I'd love to hear.

J'aime