A Season of Endings & Beginnings

October Reflections — A Season of Endings and Beginnings

Kristi De Young

While I love this month for the obvious reasons (hello, Halloween 🎃), I’ve also come to notice that it’s a season of deep transition for many, especially here in Australia. 

There’s a sense of movement in the air — a quiet shifting from one chapter to the next. As the earth leans back toward the light and spring unfolds around us, we’re reminded that endings and beginnings often arrive hand in hand. It’s a natural time for reflection, release, and growth — both within and around us.

Lately, I’ve been reflecting on the journeys my clients and their families often navigate during this time of year. For students, exam season is in full swing — a stretch filled with intensity, uncertainty, and the weight of expectation. For university students, it might mean applications for postgraduate programs or preparing to step into the workplace. For parents, it can be a period of helplessness and change as they watch their children prepare for a new life phase. For individuals it can be a period of looking toward a new horizon and wondering what the future holds - where they crave something different but are unsure of where to start.  

In October, we often find ourselves in a kind of liminal space — not quite in the festive rhythm of the holiday season, but also not in the fresh energy of the year’s beginning. Things are winding up, and you can feel it. This is the in-between time, the pause before one significant chapter completely closes and another begins.

Times like these can easily stir anxiety or self-doubt — the waiting, the uncertainty, the pressure, the sense that so much is culminating all at once. I wanted to honour this middle place, to acknowledge it, and take a moment to share a few simple, grounding tools to help you steady yourself, stay connected to calm, and move through this season with clarity and self-compassion.  There is stability on the other side of change.  

Reclaiming Your Calm

1. Don’t forget to eat.In times of stress, our fight–flight–freeze response can suppress appetite — but your brain needs nourishment to function at its best. Try to eat regular, wholesome meals and limit highly processed foods and sugar for better brain metabolism. Drink plenty of water, too. Remember, your body is a Ferrari — it needs quality fuel to perform.

2. Go For a Walk

It sounds simple, but walking is one of the most effective stress regulators there is. Take a 20-minute study break and stroll around the neighbourhood. The rhythmic movement stimulates the vagus nerve, helping the body down-regulate into relaxation. Add some sunshine, fresh air, music, or a friend, and you have the perfect antidote for an anxious mind. These breaks aren’t indulgent — they’re essential for balance and clearer thinking.

3. Keep a steady sleep routine.Aim for around eight hours of sleep and try to maintain the same rhythm you had during the school term. All-nighters don’t help — your brain consolidates learning and your body builds resilience while you sleep. Avoid long naps and cut caffeine after midday to protect your natural sleep rhythm. Remember that “Rest counts as Productivity” because it allows you to keep going in an effective way. 

4. Practice relaxation breathing.When anxiety takes hold, our breath often becomes shallow and fast — which only fuels the feeling of panic. A simple technique is Heart Coherence Breathing — a technique that synchronises your heart rhythm with your breath to calm the nervous system. Sit comfortably, breathe in for five seconds, hold, then breathe out for five seconds. Continue for at least three minutes, ideally first thing in the morning or whenever you feel tense. This slow, steady rhythm helps lower heart rate and blood pressure, creating a sense of physiological calm. For an added bonus, when you are finished, write down a list of 3 things you are grateful for, coming up with new things each day. This positive mindset shifts adds to the feeling of contentment and calm.  

6. Make some deposits to your positive thought bank.During stressful times, the inner critic tends to get pretty loud. Remember — that voice is just one part of you trying (clumsily) to help. Balance it by adding in some positive self-talk or journaling from the perspective of your future self offering wisdom and reassurance. Remind yourself of the bigger picture and the strength you’ve shown before. You’ve survived 100% of your days so far — and you’ll get through this one too.  Repeat to yourself the soothing statement, “May I be peaceful, May I be Gentle, May I be Kind to myself in this moment.”  Sending ourselves gentle loving kindness when we are suffering can do a lot to abate anxiety.  

As the year unfurls and the days grow brighter and longer, we’re reminded that life is always cycling through endings and new beginnings — and that change, while sometimes uncomfortable, is how we grow.  May you remember that the trying times always ask something of us — but they also give something back. Remember that you are more capable than you realise. You’re not crossing this threshold alone; you’re surrounded by people who believe in you and want to see you thrive. Trust your preparation, trust your Self, take your breaths, and keep going — you’ve got this.

With warmth,

Kristi