🌿 September Garden Notes: Falling in Love With Ourselves
By Bee, Founder of The Wild Remedy
As the wheel of the year turns once more, September arrives with a different kind of light — softer, lower, more golden. The days feel both full and fleeting, carrying the weight of harvest and the whisper of change. This journal continues the journey we began in July and August, tracing the lessons the garden and the seasons offer us, and how they mirror our own inner landscapes.
Since September arrived on Monday, it has also brought with it torrential rain — heavy showers drumming against the windows, soaking the earth, filling the air with that unmistakable fresh scent. There’s something I’ve always loved about it: being out in it, drenched and alive, or watching and listening from indoors, warm and sheltered. The rain reminds us that not all change is gentle sunshine — sometimes it arrives in downpours, and yet even then, there is beauty, rhythm, and renewal.
The last day of summer falls on Sunday, 21st September this year. Already, the air has shifted — cooler mornings, lower light, and that unmistakable scent of damp earth that hints at the season ahead. The garden is beginning its slow exhale after the rush of summer growth. Tomatoes are reaching their final flush, the last of the cosmos are fading, and the trees whisper change with every leaf that loosens its grip.
It’s a reminder that everything has its season — a truth we can also carry within ourselves.
🌬️ A Breath, A Beginning
I’ve said this before, but it’s worth repeating: “Deep breaths are like love notes to the body.” Each morning, before the day unravels with lists and distractions, take a moment in your space — be it balcony, garden, greenhouse, or even by a single potted plant on your windowsill.
Pause. Inhale deeply. Feel your chest rise and fall. Feel your feet anchored, your body connected.
These small daily rituals are not luxuries. They are foundations. They remind us that in a world that pulls us in a hundred directions, we can still claim moments of calm. They are how we root ourselves in the midst of change. They are how we begin again.
🍂 Lessons from the Season
Autumn teaches us that letting go can be beautiful. Trees do not resist the fall; they release. The garden models this wisdom for us every September — letting go of what no longer serves, while trusting in the cycles of return.
And just like the trees, we too are invited to ask: What am I ready to lay down? What am I ready to carry forward?
Letting go doesn’t mean reinventing ourselves overnight. It doesn’t mean a dramatic overhaul. Sometimes it is as simple as noticing — and giving ourselves permission to respond differently.
Do I correct someone when they mispronounce my name?
Which conversations leave me feeling nourished, and which leave me heavy?
What colours make me feel most alive?
Which foods truly comfort and restore me?
What hobbies or passions have I quietly longed to return to?
These small observations are not frivolous. They are signposts. They are the quiet threads that weave us back to ourselves.
💛 Falling in Love With Ourselves
“Turn your shower into a spa, your breakfast into a tasting experience, and your bedtime into a retreat. The ordinary becomes extraordinary with intention.” — Vex King
This month, I invite you to fall in love with yourself again — or perhaps, for the very first time. Not in a selfish way, but in the grounded sense that the best relationship you will ever have is with yourself.
When we live as our truest selves, we can offer more kindness, patience, and presence to others.
But I know how easy it is to lose our voice in the noise of expectations, responsibilities, and experiences that diminish us. For me, there came a point where I couldn’t hear my own voice anymore. It was buried under layers of “shoulds,” of noise, of things I allowed to continue for far too long.
This journey — back to my heart, back to my truth — hasn’t been linear. It has cost me, at times disappointing those closest to me or walking into judgement from others. But eventually choosing myself has been the only way to return to wholeness.
As Warsan Shire writes:
“The Sun is perfect and you woke this morning. You have enough language in your mouth to be understood. You have a name, and someone wants to call it. Five fingers on your hand and someone wants to hold it. If we just start there, every beautiful thing that has and will ever exist is possible. If we start there, everything, for a moment, is right in the world.”
What if we began there? With gratitude for breath, for language, for connection. With noticing the simple fact that we are here, alive, and worthy.
🌱 A Healing Journey & The Wisdom of the Body
One of the most profound lessons I’ve learned is that our bodies are extraordinary teachers. Healing hasn’t been a straight path for me, but my body has been the compass leading me home — showing me when to rest, when to pause, when to breathe.
I’ve been fortunate to have the guidance of incredible clinicians and medical professionals who understand healing as a holistic process, not just a checklist of symptoms. This process and journey has reminded me that the body is not broken — it is designed to heal, to restore balance, to adapt.
But we must listen. The whispers, the aches, the tiredness, the sparks of joy — all of it is communication.
As Bessel van der Kolk explains in his book The Body Keeps the Score, our bodies carry the memory of our experiences, storing what the mind cannot always process. But in that storage lies wisdom. The body holds the score, but it also holds the map back to our true selves.
🩹 Beyond Band-Aids
In a world that glorifies quick fixes, it’s tempting to slap a band-aid on our pain. To chase retreats, cold plunges, or years of therapy sessions without ever addressing the root — or as Marisa Peer reminds us, continually revisiting and touching the wound instead of moving through it and towards freedom.
I don’t dismiss these practices — some can be deeply supportive if approached with honesty and the appropriate expertise — but they are not a substitute for the harder work of listening, of going inward, of unearthing the truth beneath the coping.
True healing is not found in band-aids but in courage: the courage to sit with ourselves and begin to hear our voice again — perhaps for the very first time.
🧭 The Compass of Joy & Setting a Goal With Our Heart
As long as we do it with kindness — to ourselves and others — one way to navigate back to ourselves is to follow the compass of joy, pleasure, and desire. These are not frivolous luxuries; they are signals, pointing us toward what feels alive, nourishing, and true.
When we give ourselves permission to notice what delights us — the colours that light us up, the conversations that expand us, the work that energises rather than depletes us — we begin to reorient. This is how we find our true north.
And sometimes, that begins with setting a goal not with our head, but with our heart.
“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” — Proverbs 4:23
Heart goals don’t always make logical sense. They might disappoint others. They might go against the grain of what society expects. But they are ours, and they are true.
Just as planting a bulb now may not make sense in the barren soil of September, come spring its beauty will be undeniable. Heart goals are the same: rooted in trust, patience, and joy.
🌱 Against the Grain
We are conditioned from childhood — by family, education, and society — to fit into narrow boxes. To choose one career, to follow one path, to measure worth by how well we conform.
But some of us are not here to follow the grain. Some of us are here to weave many passions together, to try, to fail, to begin again. To create something that doesn’t yet exist.
And that’s okay. More than okay — it’s necessary.
🌹 Rejection, Compassion & Voice
Part of this journey back to self is learning how to navigate rejection, judgement, and misunderstanding. When we finally choose to stand up for ourselves — when we stop being silent, when we stop accepting mistreatment — sometimes the focus shifts unfairly to our reaction, rather than the years of pain or dismissal that led there.
This is hard. It’s unfair. But it doesn’t define us.
Rejection can sometimes be a redirection. It may reflect another’s limitations, not our worth. As Najwa Zebian reminds us, we are not “less” because someone fails to see us. Their inability to recognise our value doesn’t take away from it.
And here’s something else I’ve learned: our story, as imperfect and messy as it may be, can become the very thing that helps someone else. By sharing the truth of our experiences — not the polished, glossy version, but the real and raw — we give others permission to do the same. Our scars can become signposts. Our voice, once silenced, can offer comfort to someone who feels unseen.
Compassion must go both ways: extending to those around us, but also to ourselves. We are works in progress. Not every day will we feel strong, or aligned, or clear. And that’s okay. Grace allows us to keep moving gently forward.
🌻 In the Garden
Practical September tasks mirror this inner work:
Harvest the last of your tomatoes, peppers, and herbs.
Collect seeds from cosmos, calendula, and echinacea for next year.
Plant spring bulbs — a promise to your future self.
Mulch and tidy, but leave seed heads for the birds and insects.
Begin to protect tender plants, moving pots closer to shelter.
The garden shows us that slowing down, letting go, and preparing for rest is not weakness. It is wisdom.
🌿 The Wild Remedy Offerings
As the evenings draw in, join us for our The Wild Remedy autumn workshops. Whether it’s wreath making, flower crowns, natural skincare, or creative art sessions, these gatherings are about more than craft. They are about connection, slowness, and rediscovering the joy of making with your hands.
We’re also offering garden coaching — helping you transform your space, however small, into a sanctuary that supports your wellbeing. Your garden is not just a plot of soil, but a mirror of your inner landscape.
The Wild Remedy was created to be just that — a safe, kind space where you are seen, heard, and welcomed as you are. Sign up to our Wild Circle community for new product releases, samples, shared gems amongst its members. Or try our natural handcrafted skincare and take care of your body.
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🌌 Closing Thoughts
The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk reminds us that the body holds every experience. But it also holds wisdom. We cannot always control what happens to us, or how others treat us. We cannot always silence the noise around us.
But we can learn — slowly, gently, with compassion — to change how we respond. And that response won’t always be perfect, especially if we are hurting. It takes time, it takes practice, and it takes being in environments that are safe and nurturing. But little by little, our response becomes steadier. Kinder. More aligned with who we truly are.
September is an invitation to fall in love with your own life. To notice. To choose. To follow the compass of joy. To set goals with your heart. To honour your body’s wisdom. To reclaim your voice. To live in truth, with compassion, even when it goes against the grain.
So ask yourself, as the leaves turn and the nights stretch longer:
What do I want?
When was the last time I asked myself that question with honesty?
What lights me up, and where does my compass of joy point me next?
This season, let’s find our way back to ourselves — not all at once, but gently, in the noticing, in the breath, in the smallest acts of self-trust. And let us remember: our story — yours and mine — may be the very thing that helps someone else find their way too.
Let me know if this resonates with you
Bee 🐝