Last Updated on 7 September 2023 by Colette
This post features product gifted for review
The beginning of September always feels like the right time for fresh starts and new beginnings – perhaps more so than January. Perhaps it’s the teacher in me but I do love that feeling of getting back to some semblance of routine, of new shoes and fresh notebooks.
This September is the first in a while that I haven’t had a regular school booking planned in so I’m going to be dipping my toe back into ‘proper’ supply and hopefully finding myself some new schools to work in – I’ve been teaching on supply now for 11 years (and teaching for 20 years in total as of this month!). Part time supply teaching works really well for me – it allows me to keep my hand in and do the bits of the job I love whilst running my own business and maintaining some sort of work / life balance.
I’m looking forward to really concentrating on writing this autumn – writing is where my joy is at the moment so I’m definitely looking for more opportunities to branch out and make that work for me. I used to do quite a lot of writing for brands but that shifted more to instagram collaborations over the years and I really miss writing to a brief. In that last few months, people have suggested pieces of content I ought to write – things that they felt were missing from my site or just things they knew I had in me to write about – and I really enjoyed having that little push to write something I hadn’t thought about already. It can be hard to keep coming up with ideas when you don’t really have anyone to bounce off in that sense!
I have set myself some big targets for my website which I’m really enjoying working towards, however I am starting this new school year feeling a bit “what next?” – I feel a bit stuck, perhaps a bit lost. I’ve got the edges of ideas bubbling away that I’m just going to let do their thing and trust that I’ll find the right path.
I keep toying with the idea of needing to do some learning but I’m not sure what I want to learn. I’m keeping my eyes peeled for talks and events that I can attend that might give me a nudge and some inspiration to answer this “what next?” feeling. I know that some of this itch is to do with the time of year, some of it to do with my time of life – I don’t want to make big leaps or decisions but I’m definitely open to opportunities. I just need to give things time to iron themselves out – to trust in the process I guess.
How are you feeling this September? Ready and raring to go with plans in place or a bit lost? I guess I’m somewhere in-between!
