How we WANT to feel this season

Everyone keeps calling May “Mayvember” because somehow this season feels like life on steroids.

Graduations.
Big decisions.
Changing routines.
Kids growing up.
New beginnings.
Hard endings.
Unexpected transitions.
Full calendars.
Heavy emotions.
Dreams that feel exciting and terrifying all at once.

And honestly, whether you’re launching a child into college, walking through a major transition, grieving an old season, starting something new, or carrying something that feels impossibly heavy… I think so many of us are feeling the weight of life right now.

There are seasons that stretch us beyond what feels familiar.

Seasons where emotions feel close to the surface.
Where our nervous systems feel overloaded.
Where we can feel ourselves bracing for what’s coming next.

Last year, before my twins left for college, I was simultaneously finishing Master Coach Certification and wrapping up our homeschool journey too. I knew I was standing at the edge of a massive transition — not just as a mom, but as a woman.

And I remember my coach asking me to pull out my journal and write down what I actually wanted that summer to feel like before move-in day.

Not the logistics.
Not the calendar.
Not everyone else’s expectations.

But honestly…

How did I want to EXPERIENCE that season?

And when I answered truthfully, I wrote things like:

connection. presence. fun. joy. deep conversations. peace. love.

Then came the part that changed everything.

I realized how much of my emotional life I had unknowingly outsourced to my circumstances and the behavior of the people around me.

“If everyone connects the way I hope they will… THEN I’ll feel connected.”

“If everyone is emotionally present… THEN I can enjoy this.”

“If everyone slows down enough… THEN I can experience peace.”

But what I began learning was this:

My internal world did not have to be dictated by other people’s emotions or difficult circumstances.

And yours doesn’t either.

That doesn’t mean we deny the hard.
It doesn’t mean we pretend painful things aren’t painful.
It doesn’t mean we force positivity.

It means we begin deciding ahead of time who we want to be inside the season.

How we want to show up.
What we want to create.
What we want to experience alongside the hard.

Because joy and grief can coexist.
Presence and uncertainty can coexist.
Connection and transition can coexist.

And I truly believe that desire we feel — the desire to live with joy, lightness, peace, connection, and purpose even in difficult seasons — is from the Lord.

It’s not weakness to want beauty in the middle of the hard.

It’s wisdom, hope, and trust.

What resulted from that shift was one of the most beautiful summers we’d ever had.

Not because it was perfect.
Not because there weren’t tears or emotions.

But because I stopped emotionally bracing myself for the ending… and started allowing myself to fully live inside the moments I still had.

So maybe this is your invitation today too.

Pull out your journal and ask yourself:

“How do I want to experience this season?”

Not just survive it.
Not just get through it.

But experience it.

What do you want to create internally, regardless of what is happening externally?

What would it look like to choose connection?
Presence?
Peace?
Joy?
Hope?

What if fear didn’t get the final say over this season of your life?