The September Reset: Getting Back to the Rhythms of Home

LIFESTYLE | Around the Kitchen Island

I've always thought September feels a little more like a fresh start than January does.

Maybe it's all those years of back-to-school routines ingrained in us, but there's something about September that makes life feel like it's starting again. Summer is wonderful, but it's also wonderfully chaotic. Weekends away, later nights, dinners outside, vacations and plans that somehow turn a regular Tuesday into something completely different.

And then September arrives.

Suddenly, there's something comforting about knowing what day of the week it is again.

I'm usually ready for a little routine by now. Not a dramatic new season, new me kind of reset. I'm not reorganizing my entire house or waking up at 5 a.m. to become a different person.

I just want to cook dinner again.

I want groceries in the fridge, a book beside the couch and a weekend that doesn't require packing a bag. I want to get back to those little routines that aren't particularly exciting but somehow make life feel settled.

The funny thing is, we often treat September like summer is officially over. But some of Calgary's nicest days happen this time of year. The evenings are cooler, but the patios aren't closed. The garden is changing, but there's still plenty happening out there. It's still warm enough for coffee outside in the morning or dinner on the deck — you might just need a sweater.

There's no need to rush into full fall mode simply because the calendar changed.

Maybe that's what I like most about September. Summer tends to pull us away from home. September brings us back to it.

Back to the kitchen. Back to routines. Back to evenings on the couch and meals around the table. Back to the ordinary parts of life that make up most of our days.

So I'm not quite ready for pumpkins everywhere or counting down to the first snowfall.

For now, I'm happy with September, a little bit of summer left, a little bit of fall creeping in, and the familiar rhythm of everyday life finding its way back home.