Back to school: what’s in your backpack?

With the end of summer and the advent of fall upon us, everyone is returning to their regularly scheduled programming of living and learning. People are affixing photos of their summer trips in albums and on their computer desktops. Luggage is stowed in storage, traded for briefcases and backpacks. Parents are unearthing lunchboxes from the top pantry shelf. Children are trudging to school with backpacks brimming with fresh school supplies.

The beginning of school represented an excited and anxious time for many of us growing up. Meeting a new teacher, new students, and a new classroom could feel both daunting and promising. There were also some unique pleasures to the start of a new school year. I remember how I enjoyed greeting the work of a new school year with fresh supplies. Opening a big box of brand new crayons felt so satisfying and promising, counterbalancing the uncertainty I felt about the new assignments and material I was being asked to master.

For many students, fresh materials feel like a fresh start.

Schools have built some ritual around the advent of the new school year. As you may remember, each school issues lists of required supplies to help parents obtain all the necessary materials for students. You know the kind: a pack graph paper, an assortment of map pencils, a blue folder with brads for writing and a green one with pockets for science. Within the first month or so of the school year, there’s an open house so the parents, students, and teachers can build stronger relationships.

Why should students be the only ones who benefit from this ritual of strengthening relationships and taking stock of supplies prior to the start of the school year? After all, we could all benefit from a fresh start and some new supplies from time to time.

And so, whether or not you are a student, the back-to-school season represents a new beginning for all of us. With the year more than half over, I invite to take advantage of this special opportunity that this between-season time offers us.

I would like you to pause, take stock, and consider how things are going for you so far.

Are you happy with how things are in your life right now?

Is there anything you need to get where you are going?

If you were packing a backpack for the tasks remaining in your year, what would you include?