Every year, the same pattern repeats.
November sneaks up quietly, and before long the calendar starts to fill itself with end-of-year events, concerts, parties, Christmas shopping, and the creeping pressure to fit in just one more thing before the year ends.
This year, my focus is to flip the usual narrative and make December the slowest, most present and most relaxed month of the year.
I plan to sprint through November at high productivity in order to clear the path from early December right through to the end of January.
I want this summer to feel luxuriously spacious.
I want slow mornings, unplanned afternoons, and impromptu catch-ups that do not have to be squeezed into the edges of an overfilled schedule.
I want to stretch the lead-up to Christmas for my daughter and do all of the fun things that sometimes get rushed through.
No stressing about Christmas Day preparations; food planned and organised, gifts wrapped and ready days before.
So November is my reset month.
The month to finish what is hanging over me, wrap up work projects, tidy loose ends, and prepare properly for the year’s close.
Even the Christmas shopping is on the November list, done by the end of Black Friday and all sourced as local as possible.
The goal is simple: less rushing, more presence.
A few of my friends who have flexibility in their work schedules have said the same.
Some are even holding off taking on any new work from now until the new year.
And honestly, I get it.
After the pace of the past few years, and the constant mental juggling that comes with expectations of modern life, there is something deeply appealing about a full stop.
When I used to live in Melbourne, I hated being there in the week leading up to Christmas.
People were stressed, rushed, angry, driving like idiots, and behaving completely irrationally.
You could almost feel the collective tension in the air.
I used to aim to get out at the earliest chance.
Straight up the highway to my parents’ home in Shepparton, to chill for as long as I could before the city required my presence again.
That feeling has never really left me.
It is the same impulse behind this year’s plan; to protect the space that December and January offer.
It also happens to be my last summer before my daughter starts school as a proper big kid, and I want to make the most of the Christmas buzz, the pool swims, maybe even a couple of camping trips.
I have realised that productivity is not the opposite of peace.
Sometimes it is what makes peace possible.
Clearing clutter, whether physical, mental, or emotional, creates space for calm to land.
It is not about working harder; it is about being deliberate now, so the season ahead can unfold softly.
Maybe the real gift this year is not what we buy or plan, but the time we leave untouched.
Here is to a productive November and a clear, open summer.
One that feels as spacious as it looks.
25°C