Tara Lynn: "No Thank You" November
Phew. I’m still exhausted from October. December is lurking just a few days away and I’m desperately trying to prepare for another whirlwind of activity.
This year I feel like I was pummeled by pumpkins, covered in corn, hassled by hay bales, and swept away by the seasonal frenzy of fall.
Don’t get me wrong. It was all fun. We took a family trip to the Family Farm on Avent Ferry to pick out pumpkins for our front porch. We had a gymnastics team outing to Phillips Farm. I organized my annual pre-school trip to Page Farms (by golly I did it for my older two kids and my son won’t be able to claim “third kid” neglect). We went to a pumpkin painting fundraiser. We carved pumpkins. We decorated for Halloween and fall. We drove around to see all the Halloween blow-ups in our neighborhood (seriously…who knew there were that many Halloween-themed blow-ups out there?!?). Oh and we had a blast at the fall festival at school.
We didn’t even go to the fair this year. We didn’t have to with all of the other activities on the calendar and I thankfully scored a friend candy bar at the fall festival.
Even writing it all down makes me exhausted.
So once November First arrived, I decided November would be the month of little to no commitments. I’m calling it “NOvember.”
I had over-committed to October and if I am going to survive December, November would have to be the eye of the storm.
I’ve tried to keep as few plans on the books this month as possible, leaving weekends for stay-at-home all-day pajama parties. I only snuck out for my fall family photo sessions which I tried to limit to one per weekend.
Deciding to say “no thank you” to most November activities at the start of the month allowed me to let go of the guilt of disappointing others. I also communicated to many friends that I would be stepping back from commitments this month. It’s a new tradition that I am excited to add to the calendar.
As much as my anxiety wants to make me go 100 mph at all times, I’ve learned to schedule time to rest. I build in some downtime and give those moments a chance for rest or impromptu fun. It’s often the unplanned moments that make the sweetest memories.
So long “over-committment” October. Thank you “NOvember.”
Tara Lynn is a former WRAL reporter and anchor. She lends her 15-plus years in journalism to tell visual stories through love-filled photography for families of all kinds. The mother of three little humans and one senior rescue dog believes in celebrating magic in the little things, the big loves, and the imperfect moments that make the most remarkable memories. Her vision is to help families celebrate and share their love through photography and curated album artwork that become timeless keepsakes connecting multiple generations...because moments often pass in the blink of an eye, and the photographs we take connect us to our memories and our great loves, forever.
You can find Tara Lynn on Instagram at @TaraLynn_andCo and TaraLynnAndCo.com. Learn more about her photography at TaraLynnAndCoPhoto.com.
