by Françoise Mathieu, M.Ed., CCC., RP
This is a post about transitions and making time for reflection.
And listening to podcasts.
Yes, it may seem like a strange combo, but stay with me for a sec.
I have been doing a lot of driving this summer: back and forth from my home to the cottage to deal with a septic tank (oh yes, my life is full of glamour), one trip to visit my sister and her gorgeous new baby, one to drop off my son and his buddies on their back-country camping adventure and then to bring them home four days later (the car slightly less fragrant on the way back) and two trips for memorial services and major events in our extended family.
For some of those trips, I wasn’t in a huge rush, and I decided to take some country roads to break it up and skip our major highway which seems to be full of construction and sleep-deprived truck drivers these days.
This is a big transition summer for my family as our youngest prepares to go away to university (in less than 30 days! But apparently, I’m the only one doing that countdown, and no, it’s not because I can’t wait for him to leave), and our oldest goes back to Nova Scotia to complete her final year and starts thinking about next steps.
Pic of my son and his friends canoeing towards a forest fire and thunderstorms. Symbolism aplenty.
So, in order to maximize time with my kids while they work summer jobs, I haven’t taken a holiday per se, but I have worked shorter hours so I can be home for a spontaneous BBQ with them and their friends, or a quick trip to the ice cream shop – or, quite frankly, just work from my little garden in the back of our house and grab a few minute to chat as they come and go. It’s precious and sweet, and I cherish my time with these two incredible young adults. Granted, they don’t do many dishes, lose their wallets and keys regularly, and text me “What’s for dinner?” or “Can I have the car?” almost daily.
It’s hectic, but it’s so fun.
One night, we all took the local ferry (20 minutes to cross, free!) to Wolfe Island and had a leisurely dinner with friends on a patio and watched the sun set and the blood moon emerge. It felt like a week-long vacation but we were minutes from our house. Amazing.
Kingston also has a gorgeous new urban beach which is just down the street from where I live. I love that everyone in our city finally has free access to a beautiful swimming spot. My friend Amber took this pic a few days ago, and it was likely early in the day as the beach is full to the rafters by midday:
When I drive alone, I love to listen to podcasts. Here are the ones I have been listening to:
Hidden Brain – NPR: A podcast about social psychology with Shankar Vedantam
Check out these two episodes:
- You 2.0: Rebel With A Cause, with social scientist Francesca Gino
- The Edge Effect, with social scientist Adam Galinsky
Revisionist History (season 3) – Malcolm Gladwell: Gladwell is back with a third season of his fantastic RH podcast
From their website: “Each week for 10 weeks, Revisionist History will go back and reinterpret something from the past: an event, a person, an idea. Something overlooked. Something misunderstood.”
Two great episodes that focus on memory and recall (and throws in a great story about a spy and Ingrid Bergman):
Bodies – Allison Behringer: recently launched, Bodies starts each episode with a medical mystery and does a deep dive.
The first episode is called “Sex Hurts” where Behringer explores her own journey with pelvic pain with complete candor and presents some very interesting findings in the literature and expert interviews. She also discusses the ongoing lack of knowledge among medical professionals about women’s health. This is a powerful and important topic.
I am really looking forward to the next episodes in this series.
So anyway, this is all to say that I’ve deliberately carved out time this summer to process, reflect and mull over what this massive change means in my family’s life.
And I have also decided that mini-breaks and staycations can be sweet and restorative.
I hope that you enjoy these podcast recommendations.