Chapter, Calm & Compass: A Fresh Start, Back-to-School Systems & Getting Back to Basics
Even though I’m no longer teaching elementary school, apparently no one told my brain — or my body. I still operate on an academic calendar. August feels like a beginning. September feels like settling in. There’s something about a new school year that makes me want to sharpen the proverbial pencils (Ticonderoga only, please and thank you), get back into a routine, and decide what I want this next season to look like.
I recently celebrated my birthday surrounded by people I love, which always gives me a reason to pause and take stock of the year behind me and the one ahead. It’s also been a full summer with Curated Concierge and Curated Campus — between clients, projects, travel, college move-ins, and all the regular pieces of life squeezed in between, there hasn’t been much of a traditional summer slowdown around here. I wouldn’t trade it, but I am looking forward to September, when my clients will be a little more settled, routines will be taking shape, and the temperatures will hopefully stop personally attacking me.
So in the spirit of back-to-school season, this post is about new chapters, creating calm, and checking our compass.
Chapter
Another trip around the sun is officially in the books.
Maybe that’s why this time of year still feels like the beginning of a new chapter to me. I may not have a classroom anymore, but I still love the promise of a fresh school year.
Calm
Back-to-school season has a funny way of revealing every household system that isn’t actually a system. Where’s the permission slip? Who has practice tonight? Did anyone fill the water bottle? And why are we learning at 7:42 a.m. that today is apparently Spirit Day?
Before you decide you need a color-coded command center worthy of Pinterest, start with three simple systems:
Create a family email address. Use one inbox for school forms, registrations, activity updates, and anything else the household may need to access. No more searching work email, personal email, texts, and screenshots trying to remember where that one thing went.
Create a school note on your phone. Keep photos or links to school calendars, class schedules, teacher information, classmates, pickup details, and the things you find yourself repeatedly searching for, all in one place.
Create a “Don’t Forget” station. Put a simple reusable checklist near the door: backpack, lunch, water bottle, homework, instrument, sports gear, jacket. Customize it for your household and let the list do the remembering for you.
Because the best systems don’t give you more to manage. They give your brain fewer things to remember.
Compass
With everyone else heading back to school, I’ve decided to give myself a little assignment too. Instead, I’m focusing on my 5 W’s:
Water: 100 ounces a day
Walk: 10,000 steps a day
Workout: some form of strength training
Words: read for at least 20 minutes a day
Whimsy: do something simply because it sounds fun
That last one might be my favorite. Maybe this is the year we stop treating whimsy like an elective.