Back to Lúnasa

Hello you.

How are things? 

How was your summer and other ridiculous questions? I’ve missed you and our quiet Friday moments together. It’s good to be back. 

Autumn always brings out the shockingly optimistic side of my nature as the leaves colour over and the children go back to school. I used to love preparing all my new stationery for the year ahead, and even more so when I was teaching. I experienced great joy from fresh notepads, new pencil cases and ink pens. Some of that excitement lingers on.

This year all the grown-ups posted photos of their children on their first days back to school and we all wished them a collective Good Luck and took deep breaths. Good luck children, good luck teachers, good luck parents and guardians. Good luck to the home workers and the onsite workers, good luck to the bus drivers, good luck to the people working in the supermarkets. Good luck to us all. 

Back to school, back to work, back to Lúnasa.

Haven’t we come a long way? 

Remember back in March when we didn’t think we could do this for more than a couple of weeks. Then April came and went and then the summer months passed through as we saw another season. I was lucky enough to almost forget about the pandemic in July and August as I managed a couple of sea swims and a picnic or two. The rest was appreciated, and I enjoyed the sun.

Here we are now, six months in and mid-Lúnasa, so it’s time for resolutions.

Firstly, I am going to make a few changes to the way I work. Remember, also back in March when the world was afloat with advice for working from home. The general consensus was we needed separate workspaces and we should keep to office hours. We dutifully set up home offices in spare rooms, if we had them, or on the edges of beds and kitchen tables if we didn’t. We logged on at 8 and back off at 4, but we stayed online for our 21 days of meditation, family zooms and virtual tennis.

What a load of bullshit!

Where and when we work is far less interesting than how we work and this autumn I intend to experiment. Of course a repetitive working day didn’t suit us all, why would it? I’m a constantly changing and ageing mammal who works much closer with the 28-day moon calendar than the one established by the discourteous sun. I do my best work when I’m focussed but relaxed, inspired but playful, when I take the activity seriously, but know my limitations. I reach these conditions when I’m rested, well fed, well hydrated and physically comfortable. Or to flip it; when I’m grumpy and blue, the work I submit looks like pig’s waste. Why on earth did we think that making everyone work the same hours, in the same sitting positions would produce the best results?

Maybe because office work was always typically the work of women?

Modern office routines evolved from those typing pools of the 1920s which were poorly paid, monotonous and noisy. It was assumed that the mostly middle-class women would only work there until they found husbands, so they were rarely promoted or given additional responsibilities. They were infantilised and their working hours were heavily controlled, and they had no autonomy or wiggle room to change their surroundings.

Of course the modern office has better conditions but expecting us all to follow the same system at home feels barbaric. I am discovering the simple truth that my sweet spot is when I am in synch with myself, the needs of my body and my circadian rhythms and these all change daily and alongside the moon. The closer I am to me, the easier the work is, the quicker it gets done and the better it is in the long run. It flows over into my real life too.

I believe we call that a win-win-win-win.

Try it though and see how you get on. Send your one line request from your smartphone in the park, while you try to take the perfect photo of an autumn leaf falling. Come up with your solutions-based responses from a downward dog on your yoga mat. Reflect on your new mission statement from a run in the rain. Do your weekly planning curled up on the couch with a cup of Earl Grey and an episode of Mrs America all set to play. Mix it up, juggle it creatively, use your freedom to listen to your needs.

Or don’t.

Obviously, it’s up to you. 

At this stage of the experiment, you know what’s best for you, and if you like to work to the whip of the inbox, go for it! Do what you need to do, listen to your real voice, do what feels right and take care. You’ve plenty of unleaded still left in your tank, and you know what sustains you more than I. 

Traditionally at this time of year we should be feasting, match-making, trading, sacrificing bulls and enjoying the harvest of our crops.  We’re probably only doing two or three of those things right now, so let’s do what we can and move on. Let’s see what this season brings and let’s do it together like we did in the spring. One step at a time, one day at a time, one thought at a time, together. 

It’s nice to be back, happy Lúnasa from me, see you again next Friday.

Posted by ruthelizabethpowell.