March: In like a Lion, out like a lamb
I’m sure you’ve heard that saying before. Funnily enough, this and “April showers, bring May flowers” are the only two sayings around the months that I can remember with any kind of ease. I say funny, because you’d think that if we’d come up with two, we’d be able to cover the rest of the year.
There are a few origin stories around In like a Lion, out like a Lamb that range from basically talking about the weather, up to astrologically – though for April, Ares is rising…not very lamblike, so maybe there’s a bit of poetic license being taken there. Kid doesn’t bring the same kind of alliterative mouth feel in that saying like Lamb does.
Anyway, what stuck in my head, really, was the Temporal marker of changing over to a brand new month. That’s a big thing – even if we only recognize it on a peripheral level. There’s a bunch of things we do at the turn of the month. If you use a physical calendar, you take the time to physically mark the change by flipping to the next page. At the very least, you train yourself to use the current month whenever you need to write, or type the date.
It’s not always at the conscious level, but there’s a kind of low level ceremony at the turn of every month.
Temporal markers are big psychological things. There’s a sense of “Old” and “New.” “Before” and “After.” The whole “In like a Lion” part around March – which is itself an expression of movement – brings to mind an explosive burst of energy to kick off the month. “Out like a Lamb” brings to mind having left it all “on the field” and by the end of the month, the tank is empty. You’re spent.
This too is a bit of creative license. You’d know this if you’d ever seen how bouncy baby critters are, so bear with me for a moment.
I like the idea of bursting onto the scene of a new month, spending yourself in a worthwhile (Remember: You get to decide what “Worthwhile” means) effort, rising, falling, and rising again until you’ve got nothing left toward the end of the month when you pause, reflect, and regather your strength to begin again next month.
I like the cyclical nature of this idea. It fits in with the cyclical nature of life, the seasons, the world.
We’re in March right now, but lets carry this forward to the other months. Feel free to pick your own animal if Lions aren’t your thing, just as long as you focus your energy, spend it chasing your particular thing THEN take the time to rest, reflect on the past month, and regather your energies for the next month. Take a snapshot of where you are today, so you can come back next march to see how far you’ve come.
You may surprise yourself.
Thanks for reading. Be safe out there. Be Excellent to Each other – and yourself.
I’ll see you on Thursday.
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