A Summer of Change
Goodbye, Primary School 👋🏽
The End of an Era
This is the first opportunity I have had to write since my son’s school broke up, last week. The recent past has been a flurry of activity, with the school show, the leaver’s speech day, sports day, workshops, and numerous fun school-related activities, ending in a crescendo with the Year 6 Prom!
I volunteered to be one of the party organisers and even though it felt like we had a mountain to climb back in September, we managed to pull it out of the bag and create a truly memorable experience for the children. There were lots of smiling faces and the parents were very grateful for all of the effort the team of mums had put in! It was arduous at times, with the sheer amount of decisions to be made democratically in a group, and yet, the six of us have come out closer and more trusting and open than ever before.
We have created a bond of trust and friendship right at the end of our childrens’ primary school career, which has been one of the best parts of the whole process for me. My top strength is the capacity to love and be loved - so relationships come first, above all else.
The To-Do List was Immense
Between the creating the year book, ordering the hoodies, the mugs, the teachers’ card, the rotating photo gallery and assisting on every detail of the party, it’s safe to say every spare moment over the past few weeks was dedicated to these last few days of primary school!
Phew! We made it. 😆
And Now, For the Holidays…
So now that the holidays have started in earnest, I am able to stand back and allow myself to feel the feelings that this time of change is bringing up.
I have always felt times of transition unsettling, not because I don’t like change (at times I have been desperate for change), but because I like to feel prepared.
Outgrowing Your Skin
There is a part of all of us that gets used to routines and falls into familiar and comfortable patterns, especially when they work well. But inevitably there comes the time when we are ready to grow and change.
Even though my son is ready to leave (he has said a few times that he feels he has outgrown the spaces, the classrooms and the remit of what can be explored at school), it feels like shedding a skin.
My child will be starting secondary school, which means he is over halfway through his childhood. 😮🎤…(mic drop)
These moments are just so precious and they seem to be flying by at such a pace… I am feeling that weird moment just before change occurs. Outgrowing the place and the shedding your skin makes sense, but I am in the liminal space - in the transition before a new shiny skin grows. It feel strangely vulnerable. Naked and new. 🦎
It’s the end of primary school for my child. 😭
No more drop offs and pick-ups, no more chats to parents whilst waiting for the children, fewer invitations to come into school to watch performances and view paintings. No more group birthday parties (these have been getting smaller for a few years now)…
Preparing for the New
In my work and my homelife, I like to get everything organised and prepared in good time, to avoid the lastminute-dot-com feelings, I had so often in my teenage years. I was a serial procrastinator and somehow thought if I just ignored things they would go away or wouldn’t need to get done. I would bury my head in the sand and hope it would just get resolved - as if by magic!
Nowadays I am entirely different (having worked intensely on my personal development for 20 odd years), and like to be prepared well in advance of coming events. As such, I am feeling very virtuous, as I have managed to offload all of the usable uniform left over from primary school to willing friends, and have bought what we need for September. A good friend has saved me a small fortune by giving me her son’s (almost brand new) secondary school blazer. I absolutely hate throwing anything away, so I’m over the moon. Result!
Getting used to Change
In my therapy room, I tell my clients that most of the change happens between sessions, when I am not there - I only see my client for a hour a week, and yes, I make myself available at the end of the phone, and they listen to my voice in my hypnosis recordings every night before bed, but I am not there. They are the ones making the micro-decisions that make the changes in their lives. And they come back and report to me the subtle shifts that they are noticing, sometimes so small that they are hard to detect, and I have to help them decipher the changes, like unscrambling morse code.
Making the Most of the NOW
The thing about change is … it’s always happening. Nothing ever stays the same. I think we all accept that about life, but it’s when the pace of change is so fast that we can’t keep up… that’s when it’s hard.
I am pledging to make the most of the time I have to spend with my son this summer and I have booked all of August off. I can’t wait to really switch off from work and focus on enjoying watching him grow and develop this summer. 💜