i gave myself a mountain-make-over yesterday. by way of a Homesteading Haircut.

i’m on the tail end of a relatively minor self-sabotaging season. i typically use October to power-up. so the end of September has me scurrying about, choosing for one-final-week the patterns and habits that suited me well for summer, but will no longer be serving me come fall/winter.

i’m finishing off the ice cream that has been in the freezer since July. I’m eating grilled cheese and bagels, lox, and capers. i’m drinking two cups of coffee each morning, and two beers each afternoon. The end is in sight…so we are making soft pretzels this afternoon and pizza for dinner. Its what i do. I do it again in December, right before my Spartan January.

it’s a clear pattern i’ve been cycling through most of my adult life. It has a tinge of boring in it this season. It makes me feel a bit too rote, too routine, too predictable.

i answered some questions in a personality inventory this past week. words like FUN, ADVENTURE, and SPONTANEOUS came up over and over. My current life has oodles of both fun and adventure at every turn…but Spontaneity, sadly none.

Thursday morning i was home, alone, for the first time in over a week. After my second cup of coffee, and after unloading and loading the dishwasher, and after folding the laundry and starting a new load, and after feeding the dogs, and after sweeping the floor, i ran upstairs to take a shower. i looked in the mirror and instantly decided that i’d cut my hair. so i did.

i wasn’t so cerebral or connected to it at the moment. it wasn’t until later in the day when i found myself silently smiling, feeling an uplift in my spirit from honoring and celebrating a moment of impulsivity. i small high-five to my true nature that gets a bit neglected in the role i currently play.

I’m ready for the transformation that comes with fall. I will begin to split logs and stack them, to haul pellets and load them, to move rocks from place to place, to walk up hills with a pack and a rifle, to brace against the wind, and to roast the root vegetables. Bring it, October.