The heat of summer has finally hit. 44 degrees c in Adelaide today and sadly a number of fires are burning around South Australia. Up till now it has mostly been warm or cool rather than the searing heat that usually marks a South Australian summer.

In an effort to keep the native plants in the garden alive I am watering them in the early hours of the morning. The air conditioning is managing well and there have been no power cuts which is good. I feel for those who struggle to afford power bills in this heat. And those who don’t have any aircon.

Summer is an odd time of year for me. I still think of summer as sitting in the months of June and July as I’m the northern hemisphere, even though I have been down under for nearly half my life.

Spring should signal new beginnings but as an educator the summer is when the new school year starts and so I wonder what new things this summer brings.

I have been working on being less bothered by uncertainty. Saying yes more often and being spontaneous. These are hard things for many of us autistics but it is surprisingly freeing to just accept that I am anxious at times and still do whatever it was that I had been invited to do.

The world doesn’t end when I don’t plan things. My anxiety settles down sooner or later and the earth continues to spin. I am not saying this is easy or even possible for everyone. I think my grief and loss pushed my axis of being so far that things that were possible are no longer and things that were not are now fine.

Trying new things, meeting new people, accepting new opportunities are all daunting but I understand that I need to engage with the world to live, rather than just exist.

Stay safe wherever you are in the world. Be nice to yourself and others. And I hope good things come from opportunity.