Break out of the November ‘hum’

Everything around me is way too quiet. We have entered that time of the year when everything seems to have calmed to a faint hum. The excitement of Spirit Week and Homecoming at Lawrence Woodmere Academy is now behind us. Fall sports jerseys have been retired and stored, their fabric washed of all wins and losses until next year. The school days tumble into a comforting routine. There is the repetitive sound of lockers slamming shut, pencils scratching on papers, sneakers skidding in the hallways, and fingers clacking on keyboards. These sounds are the unmistakable sounds of November, and to me, that faint hum is becoming deafening.

The normality of November is frightening. Just two months ago, school felt like an alien place and now we move through the halls as if we never left. We have jokes with teachers, friends who were just strangers on the first day of school and even regular seats in the cafeteria. As a senior, I have refused to let the normality affect me. Knowing that this is my last year at LWA makes me want to find significance in my day-to-day routine. The more I look for it, the more I find it.

I find it in the rhythmic bounce of basketballs on coach Jeff Weiss’s court, the players preparing tirelessly for the season ahead. I find it in the excited shriek of Lower School students at the book fair, purchasing books to challenge themselves and transport their minds. I find it in the College Room shenanigans, where anything is done to ease the stress of applications and looming deadlines.

To me, November isn’t just a segue from Halloween into December, one long advertisement for holiday shopping. November’s simplicity reminds us all what we truly have to value. Although Thanksgiving serves as a marker of this notion, it is the time leading up to it this holiday that is most important. It is only when there are no events to look forward to that we are forced to make the most of our time.

Fellow senior and LWA Antics columnist Vianne Singh is a testament to this. “Going into my senior year, I made a bucket list,” she said. “I wanted to do something I would never normally do, so I decided to join the basketball team. The team is very welcoming and supportive and I can’t wait for a great season!”

Instead of providing us with the ease of routine, November presents us with a challenge. November invites us to break the cycle and reinvent ourselves. The beginning of the year is still filled with promise as long as we seize the opportunities given to us. And if they are not given, then we must create them.

Do something spontaneous. Walk out of your comfort zone. Join the basketball team even if it means purchasing your first pair of sneakers. Whatever you do, fight the challenge of November head on and don’t be quiet about it.