September Reset

September: When the To-Do List Attacks
by Noah Clyman, LCSW-R

September always feels like a prank. One minute I’m in summer mode—barely wearing shoes, eating dinner at 9 p.m., convincing myself iced coffee counts as hydration—and the next I’m drowning in calendars, emails, and a sun that disappears way too early.
I’ve had years where I thought, “If I don’t get this all together perfectly right now, I’m doomed.” That’s a CBT distortion called all-or-nothing thinking. Spoiler: I wasn’t doomed. I was just cranky, sleep-deprived, and pretending a pumpkin spice latte could solve my problems.
Here are two CBT tricks I lean on (and teach my clients):

• Thought Record Lite. Write down the stressful thought, then ask: what’s the evidence for it? Against it? Usually, the “against” side wins. Suddenly the thought isn’t a prophecy—it’s just a thought.
• Behavioral Experiment. Believe you must finish everything today? Leave one thing undone. See what happens. (The world doesn’t end. You just get some breathing room.)

Transitions are messy, but they’re also a reset button. They force us to look at what matters, what can wait, and what can get tossed out with last year’s candle collection.
So yeah, September is demanding. But it’s also a chance to reset—and maybe even laugh at yourself a little along the way.