Your Fall Rentrée: Step into a Bigger You
What we learn from the French about the seasonal change.
Seasonal Changes
Every fall brings an invitation: to begin again.
In France, they call it La Rentrée – the “re-entry” into life after summer.
Here, we say Back to School. But it’s more than sharpened pencils and new notebooks. It’s a reset button. A season of fresh routines, new energy, and the chance to ask: Who am I becoming now?
La Rentrée is for everyone, not just the kids. After a summer break, we are re-entering the busy-ness of life. Back to schedules, routines, habits. Back to packed days after the dog days of summer, where the warm weather (haha! Not in San Francisco!) lured you to relax and enjoy the moments.
La Rentrée welcomes in Fall– new energy, new routines, new colors, new clothes, new possibilities, new identities.
For kids, it’s a bit easier. For example, before they were a 7th grader, now they're an 8th grader. Before they were high school students, now they're college students.
It’s a time of transition.
But what happens to you when you don’t have a label for the next stage of your life?
This Fall brings many transitions into my life. I went from empty-nester, to living with one adult child to living with all three adult kids.
But it’s different now. Of course I am a mom as I will always be. But my kids are not who they were before. Now they are more adults than kids and demand to be treated that way (until they need money, then it’s just “mom…”).
As I enter this new world and see how they are evolving from the students they were to adults working to make it in the world, I see my own transition in a bigger light.
Just as they changing their identities, I am moving from a known identity into the unknown. Whether it's from empty nester, or when entering retirement, or going through a divorce, it becomes an identity change.
How will you define yourself once your roles have shifted? And if your identity doesn’t shift, where does that leave you? Stuck in a time warp? I’ve told the story before about the woman I met at a networking event who introduced herself as a single mom and I found out her son was 46 years old. She definitely needed an identity shift.
As your life evolves, so too must your identity.
And making that a conscious decision instead of a random act allows you to take control over the process.
For years I saw myself as a water aerobics instructor. But that was too small. In reality, I was helping people in the fourth quarter of their lives stay mobile, strong, and joyful? That is calling, not just a job!
You may have seen yourself as a mom when in reality you’ve been a community builder, event planner, conflict negotiator, and counselor for years!
Now, I could see myself as a Tarot Card reader. But that is a task, a component of what I do. Instead, I see myself as a person who facilitates change in others. I am a change-maker.
And seeing myself as a change-maker pushes me to treat my clients differently. To push them to live their best lives, to motivate them, to instill gratitude where possible, to be and do more in a bigger picture.
When I work with coaching clients, I see them as they want to be seen, not as they are. That would only keep them small. But in seeing them in a larger capacity, it helps them to grow into who they truly want to be.
Create an identity and live into it fully.
And that is my challenge for you today. How do you want to be seen? What is your big vision for yourself? How can you fully live into that?
It doesn’t have to be some scary thing. To begin, you only need to take a small step forward. The reward is in the journey. As you move forward, each step takes you closer and you can see your identity grow and shift. And it keeps growing and shifting as you learn and see what is possible. That you are more than enough. That you can do big things, hard things. One step at a time.
During this time of transition, look to see if you have some false beliefs, some false chains that are preventing you from moving forward, as the Reversed Devil card reveals. By changing your view, you will see that the chains are made by your own mind and you have the power to shift this.
Create the vision of how you want your life to be. Then take a step in that direction and move forward on your chosen path. What you have control over in life is your attitude. Make your attitude one of possibility. Set your vision and your attitude and move forward.
And have fun along the way. This is the journey of your life. Smell the roses. Savor the bacon. Breathe the fresh air. Move with direction. Follow the compass of your heart.
This is your Rentrée. Step into your bigger identity, release the chains that keep you small, and re-enter life as the fullest version of you. You can do this – and you don’t have to wait another season to begin.
Today’s blog is brought to you by the Devil Reversed.
The Devil reversed reminds us that most of the chains holding us back aren’t real– they’re illusions we’ve built in our own minds. And illusions can be broken. This season of transition is your chance to choose differently.
Write down the “small identity” you’ve been carrying – the role or title that keeps you limited. Then write the bigger identity you want to grow into, the one that reflects your vision and your heart. Keep it somewhere visible. Step into it in one small way today and every day.
This is your La Rentrée Your re-entry into a bigger life. Release the chains. Reclaim your identity. And move forward with joy – because this is your journey, and it’s meant to be lived fully.