🍁 A few words
It’s my favorite time of the year again. The days are sunny but not too hot, the mornings and evenings have a slight chill in the air. September has always felt like pure magic to me. A strange month that encompasses both summer and the beginning of something new. For some, that means back to school or work, or others the start of the holiday season because the Halloween-Thanksgiving-Christmas-News Years march gets shorter and shorter every year.
September is my birthday month so I am very biased. Every year, near the end of August, I start to think about the past 11 months and what I accomplished or learned, and what sorts of things I’d like to see or do or become in the following twelve. This year I turned 40. Truly nothing changed, as it was a Tuesday after a holiday weekend. I spent the week in Turks and Caicos by myself, sleeping, eating, drinking, and swimming to my heart’s content. I got a massage, and a facial for the first time ever. I think the highlight of my birthday was getting compliments from the spa technician on my skin. I drank a piña colada by a mostly empty pool, and later, a beer by the swim-up pool on the beach.
That evening I made a dinner reservation for myself at the fancy on-site restaurant, and wore an equally fancy dress to eat by myself. The restaurant staff adopted me, making sweet and thoughtful adjustments to my meals and beverages, and even sang “Happy Birthday” to me in the mostly empty restaurant. It wasn’t eventful, just pleasant. And after the last couple of years, that’s the sort of experience I’m looking for. No explosions or enormous blowouts, just a calm day with soothing and satisfying vignettes — with plenty of time between for naps.
As for 40, I haven’t figured out yet where it will lead me. I vowed to leave more things behind this year, than things to add. More getting back to basics, devoting myself to my friends, family, and interests. And hopefully, creating something magical from a bit of myself to share with you all. ✨
💎 Recommended reading
While I was on vacation, Aniyia Williams announced the creation of The Tech We Want, a fascinating endeavor bringing together luminaries from the tech industry who are focused on creating a new version of technology with the goal of improving our collective well-being. Finally a movement I can get behind, hell yes! Learn more about it in her announcement post.
🗣 Something random
In the last few years, occasionally I pop my head out of the fog of screens like an amnesiac groundhog to think fleetingly about attention. Like ~~energy~~ I want to be intentional with how I use it, but all too often it’s easier, and somewhat temporarily comforting, to give it over to whatever is on screen, be it a prestige drama, an illuminating Twitter thread, a mindless BuzzFeed listicle, or the hunt on social media for the drama surrounding subtweets in my timeline. Surely human beings were not meant to use their minds like this.
I thought about this at the beach, after I’d taken some photos of the beautiful scenery, and captured the sunset in real time. I put my phone down and hopped into the Atlantic bathwater and floated along for a bit while the last rays of sunshine left the horizon. When I got out, I dried off, took a few breaths to enjoy the moment, and immediately looked at my phone. Did I need a phone there to make the moment better? I’ll let you be the judge, but my thoughts definitely drifted back to attention, and wondering if there’s an economy built around it, noticing as mine has been harder to focus on the things I really enjoy. Turns out, there definitely is, and I found this post (not an endorsement of this product whatsoever) that helped clarify what’s been bouncing around in my head unarticulated.
Happy Fall y’all!! jk I know it’s not officially for another week, but I can’t help. I love September 💕💕💕
–Jenn