September Holds So Much

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September brings contradictory emotions that coexist within us—the relief of returning routines alongside the grief of what or who is missing. Our ability to simultaneously hold joy and sorrow, gratitude and grief isn't confusion or weakness, but rather the fullness of being human.

In this episode:

• The paradox of September: school routines returning while feeling the emptiness of change
• Why society pressures us to choose between emotions, but our hearts don't work in categories
• A mindful moment to acknowledge all feelings without organizing them
• The Japanese concept of "mono no aware"—the inseparability of beauty and loss
• Permission to experience contradictory emotions as signs of aliveness, not instability
• Finding sacredness in both joy and grief without choosing between them

Visit liftoneself.com for more resources on navigating complex emotions, and please share this episode with someone who might need these words.

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Music:

Palms by Text Me Records / Bobby Renz
Gemini by The Soundlings
Sunset n Beachz by Ofshane
Misdirection ...

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
September always feels like too much, doesn't it?
Some of you are breathingeasier because school is finally
back in Routines.
Give your body a rhythm againand you can hear yourself, think
, also, get some quietness fromall that chaos.
And at the exact same time,some of you are standing in a

(00:26):
quiet kitchen wondering how thehouse can feel this empty both
at once in your chest.
Some of you are scrollingthrough first day photos while
remembering the child who shouldbe here, but isn't.
Some of you are carryingSuicide Prevention Month, not as

(00:52):
awareness, but as a Tuesday, asa phone call that changed
everything, as the chair thatstays empty.
And some of you are just tryingto breathe through.
One more season change, onemore month where everything
keeps moving and you're not sureyou want to keep up.
This month doesn't askpermission.
It doesn't give you one feelingat a time, neatly packaged.
It's relief bleeding intosorrow, joy crashing against

(01:17):
guilt, the sweetness of routinewrapped around the ache of who's
missing from it.
And here's what I need you tohear you are not broken for
holding all of it.
We live in a world that demandsyou choose Stay sad or move on,
be grateful or grieve.
But your nervous system doesn'twork in categories.

(01:40):
Your heart doesn't fileemotions alphabetically.
The mother crying in the schoolpickup line who laughs at her
friend's text five minutes laterisn't confused.
She's human.
The father who feels reliefthat structure is back, while
simultaneously missing hisdaughter's childhood, isn't

(02:02):
contradicting himself.
He's alive Right here, rightnow.
Let's take a mindful moment.
Close your eyes, if you can,and if you can't, just soften
your gaze, drop your shoulders.
You've been carrying more thanyou realize.

(02:22):
Breathe in through your noseslowly.
Breathe out through your mouthslower.
Feel what's here the relief,the grief, the mess of it all.
Don't try to organize it, don'ttry to make sense of it.

(02:46):
Just let it be what it is.
Now.
Whisper this to the part of youthat's been trying so hard I
can miss them and laugh at thesame time, and laugh at the same

(03:06):
time.
I can grieve what was and begrateful for what is.
I can hold it all.
Let that settle, not as asolution, but as permission.
Take another deep breath in andslowly exhale, allowing your

(03:30):
body to soften.
September teaches us thatendings and beginnings don't
take turns.
They're braided togetherinseparable.
School starts and childhoodpasses, routines return and
someone's absence gets louder.

(03:51):
The calendar moves forward andgrief stays right here.
This isn't a problem to solve,it's life to be lived.
The Japanese have a word mono,no aware, the bittersweet
awareness that everything isimpermanent, that beauty and

(04:12):
loss are the same thing, justexperienced from different
angles.
September is mono-nowhere.
It's the month that shows youbeauty and loss holding hands.
So if you're crying in a Targetparking lot and texting funny
memes an hour later, that's notinstability, that's aliveness.

(04:35):
If you're grateful for routinesand aching for what routines
can't fix, that's not confusion,that's depth.
If you're excited about fall,especially that pumpkin spice,
and dreading the holidays thatare coming, that's not weakness,
that's wisdom.
You know what September leadsto.

(04:55):
You don't have to choosebetween your joy and your grief.
They belong to each other, theybelong to you.
Both are sacred, both are true,both mean you're still here,
still feeling, still aliveenough to hold complexity, and

(05:16):
maybe, just maybe that's notjust enough, maybe that's
everything.
I'm Nat, nat, and this has beenthe Lift One Self podcast.
If this, this episode, openssomething in you, you can find
more of this work atliftoneselfcom.
And if you think someone needsthese words, please share it out

(05:39):
to somebody.
This is how we grow thecommunity and allow ourselves to
feel human.