My husband used to tell me about one of his employer’s policies about being present, not about being on time or meeting deadlines. This isn’t exactly this phrase, but it was essentially that all staffers should “be here now”.

Phones off. Laptops closed. Tablets (they didn’t exist back then…but PDAs did – so put them away, too.)

Other distractions, projects, assignments or deadlines be damned. Pay attention to what we are talking about today, not yesterday and while the discussion may have been focused on tomorrow, you couldn’t think about that unless it was relevant to the meeting or discussion at hand.

We are here now, it is the last day of July. Summer is half over…it feels like it is closer to being over though than just starting.

On a side note (and this kind of matters to the story,) there is a Blue Moon tonight. A rather rare (not so rare, actually, 3.5% probability) of occurrence, with a second full moon in a given month.

Maybe that was partly the focus and the impulse for advertisers to start promoting Halloween today. Maybe it was because Halloween is ONLY 3 months away. Today. OMG. It is already July-O-Ween!!! Scary isn’t it??

While we may be lamenting that summer is coming to a close, and it is already time for Back to Ghoul… (their words not mine, still, I like it – it is clever, not totally unique or the first-time ever being said, printed or promoted, but it is catchy and cute.)

Whatever you are doing, don’t get overly stressed out about the future. We all do it. The planners and the savers. The list makers. The parents of little kids who are growing up way too fast. The ones who won’t want to celebrate Halloween in a few years, because they are Way. Too. Cool. For. Ghoul. (Even if they watch Teen Wolf and Vampire Diaries…)

Let go of the constant worry about tomorrow. That will come whether you had a good, happy, fun day today, (and already have your Wonder Woman or Princess Leia costume) or not. You can think about tomorrow a little bit, but only, only when it is the time to focus on that. Set aside the time to think about what is next, but leave plenty of time to enjoy what is actually happening.

Let’s enjoy a few more weeks of summer (it is forecasted to be nearly 90 degrees all week!) There is still a lot of summer to be had!

Don’t worry if the ideal costume isn’t going to be in-stock come October 1st (or 15th or even the 30th…those last minute ideas are sometimes the very best!)

Be here now. At least for the ability to enjoy being in the moment – you won’t get that back – even on the first ever July-O-Ween, complete with a Blue Moon.

~ Dawn aka Hat Girl

PS In case you do need some inspiration and you won’t be able to relax until you do resolve Halloween, well, then you can try this out or this (they essentially go to the same place.)