Dear Together Friends, Fans, and Family,
Crystal Light, where have you been all of my life? Seriously, as a water-challenged human, how has this never hit my radar before?! OK, this concludes the Lemonade part of my newsletter. (Yes, yes, I know about additives, blah, blah, but I eat like two pounds of broccoli rabe every day for breakfast so TRADE-OFFS).
Otherwise, it is August. Over here at the Semi-Together Four-Kid-Four-Cat Household, we have a heavy mix ofboth work (mostly work) and personal travel with some combinations of our herd headed to:Alaska, Israel, Tilghman Island (this one is me and my paddle board all alone for 48 hours), New Orleans, Rehoboth Beach, New York City, Virginia Beach, and Myrtle Beach. Add to this mix two family birthdays (heyyyy fellow Leos, I see you! Happy 45 to Maia! You can send me a birthday note about Togetherness here or just go ahead and mail me alllll the peanut butter chocolate maltballs), one kid’s theater camp musical performance, heavy book revisions, and nights out seeing this and them — and we are all working and summer-ing hard. I spent a glorious two weeks in my homeland with exactly ZERO lists (okay, I had a small grocery list), so this August calendar was a shock to my system.
Speaking of, for some of you, school is BACK already. How are you holding up? Are your Sharpies bringing you joy? For the Labor Day-ish return to school crowd like me, I keep seeing the meme that August is like one long month of Sundays. How can we make this not so? I’ve been working both online and in-person with tons of leaders and teachers this month, and with a recent in-person crowd of 125+ folks in Houston, I was reminded of the power of laughter. People were fanning themselves all morning,and I got convinced the room was too hot — but then they started swatting each other with the homemade fans, and I paused the training and was like, WHY ARE YOU ALL HITTING EACH OTHER and it turns out there were just flies everywhere. We collectively collapsed into some giggles. More of this, please.
Speaking of this, we have some silly options and some serious options on offer for you below this month. And don’t forget, whether you are brand new to Togetherness or need a Tune-Up, our next round of online courses roll in September!
#togetherforever #clipboardsandclogs
MHM
Together Treasure Box (From the Blog!)
- The Grand RE-Togethering. Sometimes those boxes pile up, the laundry won’t quit, the email is overflowing…and it’s time for a RE-Togethering!
- Ready for more analog tools in your life? If summer and time away from the office has you craving more analog and less digital in your life, check out Steve’s Weekly Worksheet for inspiration!
- It’s all about those priorities! Much of Togetherness really just comes down to identifying clear priorities and then letting choices about how we spend our time flow from those priorities. (Easier said than done, I realize!!)
Top Together Tributes
- Together Reflection Time: Halfway Day has come and gone! Did you all know this was a thing? I sure didn’t until it kept popping at me. Seems like a good time for reflection, for sure.
- The Back-to-School Math Problems I Need. This article had me at “How many dollars would she pay him to fix the lock?” [Warning: some readers may not find all content in this article appropriate. Consider yourself warned.]
- Get it Together for Back-to-School? Our fave friends over at Camp Kinda dropped an amazingly helpful guide! You can bet I’m reading alllll The Together Teen ideas!
- A Must-Read Mental Health Story. My former colleague posted this raw and brave reflection from his daughter. A must-read for anyone struggling with or adjacent to mental-health challenges – especially for many teens right now.
