Gathering What Matters
There is a children's book I first read to my oldest son almost 10 years ago, and it has stayed with me since.
It tells the story of Frederick, a little field mouse preparing for winter alongside the rest of his family. While the other mice spend their days gathering food, hay, and everything they will need to make it through the colder months ahead, Frederick appears to be doing nothing or actually, something entirely different. He sits quietly in the sunshine. He notices the changing colors of the fields. He listens to the sounds of summer.
When the other mice ask why he isn't helping, Frederick simply replies that he is gathering too. He is collecting the warmth of the sun for the cold days, the colors for when the landscape turns gray, and words to lift their spirits when winter feels long.
I find myself thinking about Frederick every August.
For many of us, August marks the end of a slower, gentler, and freer season. Children head back to school. Colleges and universities welcome new students. Families settle back into familiar routines. Calendars begin to fill, and the pace of life both quietly and abruptly begins to shift.
When I look at a family photo of us smooshed together this summer, part of me thinks I never want this to end. The other, more experienced part knows to hold onto the togetherness, connection, and space we have created. These are the moments I store in my personal bank of joy, the ones that I can dip into later and hopefully hand out as golden coins to my own field mouse family when the time feels more constrained.
Perhaps that is August's invitation.
Before we rush into the next season, what are we gathering that will sustain us with memories of light, joy and full-hearted smiles?
ELEVATE
One of the greatest myths in leadership is that growth only happens while we are working.
In actuality, some of our most meaningful growth happens when we create enough space to notice what has been missing. Summer has a way of doing that. It slows us down just enough to see how things can be rearranged, experienced differently, and reprioritized. We collectively give ourselves an annual permission slip to pause.
For me, that has always been one of the greatest gifts of this season. It creates another opportunity and space where I can integrate the different roles I hold. Being a mother, a wife, a daughter, a friend, and a leader blend into parts of the same whole. Sometimes competing with one another, but more often the experiences I have in one area strengthen how I show up in another if I give it enough time to make the connection.
That is what elevates the way that we show up. Not compartmentalizing our experiences, or reserving slower pace to segmented vacations. It is integrating how we show up in these moments and bringing them all around us. Like Frederick, we get to gather what sustains us. The opportunity is to carry some of that warmth forward, allowing what we experienced during the slower days of summer to shape how we lead when the calendar fills again.
EMPOWER
As September approaches, it is tempting to think of summer as something we enjoyed before returning to "real life."
I wonder if there is another way to look at it.
Instead of asking what still needs to be finished before the season ends, perhaps we should ask what deserves to come with us:
What routines gave you energy instead of draining it?
What relationships reminded you who you are outside of your role?
What pace allowed you to think more clearly?
What joy did you finally make space for?
These are not experiences to leave behind. They are resources to carry forward.
The change of season gives us a natural moment to take inventory of what we have gathered and decide what we want to keep. Some of the space summer created may become harder to find. Our calendars will fill, routines will return, and demands on our time will shift. And yet, we still have choices about what we protect and what we make room for.
That is where empowerment comes in. We become more empowered when we recognize that we have agency in shaping the conditions around us. We can choose which routines continue, which relationships get our attention, and which parts of ourselves we refuse to pack away simply because summer is over.
Leadership is shaped by those choices. Every time we protect something that helps us become healthier, more present, or more connected, we strengthen the way we show up for everyone around us.
Perhaps the goal is not to hold onto summer. It is to hold onto what summer gave us.
RESULTS
The most sustainable leadership rarely comes from pushing harder. It comes from leading from a fuller place.
When leaders carry forward the perspective they gained, the rest they absorbed, the relationships they deepened, and the joy they made space for, the impact extends far beyond their own well-being:
They listen with greater patience.
They respond rather than react.
They create calmer teams because they are more grounded themselves.
They make better decisions because they have given themselves the space to think before they act.
Those shifts translate into results. Greater patience creates space for better conversations. More thoughtful responses strengthen trust. Grounded leaders bring greater clarity to their teams, and better decisions move the work forward. What we gather for ourselves ultimately becomes something we can give back to the people and organizations around us.
The point about Frederick is that he wasn't gathering less than everyone else. He was simply gathering the things that were not yet tangible.
The sunshine, the colors, and the words became exactly what his community needed when the season changed.
As this summer comes to a close in a few short weeks, I invite you to reflect on what is it that you are gathering for your future self, the people you lead, and the season ahead.
Every season offers us something. The opportunity is deciding what we choose to carry forward.