Originally published on Dr. Z's Two Cents, September 3, 2025.
Hello again Dear Reader, and welcome back to September, apparently!?
Dr. Z's note: I will not be taking suggestions about it being time to transition to fall.
Leave those of us WHO ARE NOT READY and our 3ish weeks of actual summer left, alone.
I don't know about the rest of you, but life has been giving my brain and I a run for our money since I published my previous post on thinking critically about spirituality.
My 3rd post was an unintentional vulnerable experience for me, since I am not used to being so open about my personal convictions, which I put together just now as I began typing this (thanks, GUSS).
Perhaps the vulnerability I felt attached to but hadn't consciously processed, quietly disrupted the personal goal I had set for myself to publish new posts twice a month.
My ego is wondering (very loudly in my brain) as to why I am sharing my most recent struggle with being vulnerable on the internet.
For one, I am reminding you all that I am a human, equipped with all the same weird, wonderful, upsetting, and otherwise classified emotions as you.
For two, being vulnerable can feel very uncomfortable, especially when previous experiences of your own vulnerability were mis-handled.
For three, vulnerability is actually the means through which we achieve genuine connection, with others and ourselves.
One of my very best friends of over 14 years came into town to visit over the long weekend and I had SO much fun with her. It was something my soul desperately needed and I am feeling particularly grateful for.
When it came time to drop her off at the train station, tears filled my eyes as we approached the platform. My friend and I were still occupying the same space and time, yet my body was letting me know that big feelings were approaching faster than her mode of transportation.
[IMAGE FROM ORIGINAL POST]
The re-realization that everything in life is fleeting hit me like the proverbial ton of bricks.
My former 'go-to' of intellectualizing my feelings was barely a blip on my radar before the commanding, wordless emotions flowed from my eyes.
Spoiler alert: it is not possible to out-think, or talk yourself out of your emotional responses to life.
The truth is, everything in this life we're living is finite and fleeting in one way or another.
There's the initial beginning (The Big Bang!) and a final end (at some point in the future); with innumerable smaller, yet equally significant, beginnings and endings in between.
Words like finite and fleeting can elicit different emotions depending on perspective.
On the one hand, I find those words carry a sense of urgency; kind of like those of you rushing the rest of us into pumpkin spices, warm beverages, and scarves, while the actual weather humbles us into sweaty submission by mid-day.
On the other hand, the finite and fleeting re-realization eventually anchored me in gratitude, mid-cry, on my drive home from the train station. This was, of course, after the initial surge of 'OMG...nothing lasts forever...all panic, no disco' moment that thankfully disappeared just as quickly as it surfaced.
My call to action for you, should you choose to accept it, is to check in with yourself on this 3rd day of September (or whenever you're encountering this post).
How are you feeling?
Are you finding ease during this season?
Are you feeling rushed and/or stuck?
A secret third option?
What do YOU need right now? Regardless of whether or not it makes sense to anyone who is not you.
Please take time over the next 3ish weeks for your own type of unofficial end of summer shenanigans to root yourself in gratitude for what still is, would ya?
Until next time, Dear Readers!
In gratitude & solidarity,
Dr. Z