Maycember - you didn't imagine it...

"When the environment changes, we have to evolve with it."

I have never been so grateful to turn a calendar page. Honestly, what was May? It felt like December, with all the pressure, but none of the holiday magic!

And I told myself a beautiful, believable lie for most of it. "Next week it gets better." I genuinely believed it would! Let's just get through Easter. This concert ends next week. Baccalaureate is almost over. Easy. Almost there. And I meant it, right up until about mid-May and I couldn't pretend anymore.

When I look back, for me, I know it all went off the rails when I let sugar show up again. A seemingly small compromise, thinking "oh, just this one treat won't hurt me!" Until my sleep gets impacted, all motivation drains, and I'm left wondering why I feel so busted all the time!

But that's not a willpower story. That's a system story.

The real problem wasn't May, but that I didn't prepare for it.

I'm a systems person. I live by rhythm, routine, and structure. My December system is dialed in, and it has been for years. Thanksgiving week is when I activate it. I know what demands are coming, so I know what I need in place to meet them.

But May? I walked into May basically how I'd walk into any regular month. But it is not a regular month, is it? For artists and educators, and maybe even everyone else, May is its own kind of December. The season-ending concerts, the student recitals, the graduations, and the scheduling chaos of it all. The difference is we all understand December is brutal. May just arrives. "Yay spring, right?"

This is one of the particular challenges of an artist's life: periodicity. We only experience certain seasons once a year, which means we only have one chance per year to learn from them. And, to complicate matters more, what worked last year may not work this year, because the commitments change, our capacity shifts, and our needs evolve, too.

A system built on repetition takes time to calibrate. We deserve compassion for not always getting it right when the repetition is so spread out.

What I would have done differently.

If I had looked honestly at my April/May calendar, I *might* have seen what was coming. I certainly would have seen the density, the travel, the late nights, the early mornings. And I would have built the system to support it before any of it started, instead of trying to chase recovery in the middle of it.

That's not self-criticism. (Okay, maybe a bit, but that's a different post...) That's just learning. The value of a good system is not that it prevents hard seasons, but that it gives you some support in the struggle.

May won't catch me the same way next year. I'll be honest with myself in April. I'll build a better container before I need it. And, I'll remember that making good money in a hard month is still making good money. There's something worth honoring in that. Even if it tries to leave us for dead by the end of it!

The question I'm sitting with as June begins:

What does the summer system need to look like to balance a genuine need for rest and the countless ambitions in mind?

I hope we can all give ourselves credit for surviving Maycember. And, maybe we can also commit that surviving is no longer the standard we're willing to hold ourselves to.

If you're looking for support in finding your own system, I'd be honored to help guide you. Send me a message and let's talk.

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Dr. Jonathan Gregoire is an executive and creative coach for artists, musicians, and creative leaders. His work centers on building the systems, structure, and stability that help high-achieving creatives do their best work sustainably.