Seasons
It starts as New Years. You can still feel the remnants of Christmas hot on its heels. It’s a new chapter, a new you, new goals. A chance to accomplish what you said you would do last year that somehow got left behind amidst all of the chaos of those last 365 days. You start your plan. Listing all of the ways that this year will be different. You’re excited. You’re determined. There is a palpable drive in the air. This year will be your year. You start all of the necessary first steps to accomplish these goals that have been hanging over your head for the past however long. You blink.
It’s spring. When did that happen? It is warmer now, things are busy. Something happened. Whether it be the kids got sick, your boss kept piling new things on your plate, you had a falling out with a long time friend. Doesn’t matter what it was. By this time, at least one thing has happened that took the wind out of your sails. But no big deal, you strap your boots up and you remember that you decided this was your year. You keep chugging along and pushing for those goals. You reopen that notebook that you wrote everything down in. You notice your last entry was the end of February. Wow is it really April already? Time flies. You reminisce over the past four months. It feels like a lifetime ago already that you put those goals down. Never you mind. You’re gonna do it. You make your next entry. You close the notebook. You work tirelessly. At your projects. Cleaning your home. Making time for the experiences you want to have that yield those moments of joy. You pour your energy into your kids, your job and/or that new hobby that you’re really trying to get good at. Man it’s hot outside now. When did August get here? Gosh what was that thing you needed to do? That thing you said you would do months ago? Gosh where on earth did you put that notebook? You’ll find it. You’re sure of it. Before you know it, you’re getting out the Christmas decorations and you stumble upon that notebook that got pushed behind the table in your living room. You open it.
You read over those goals that you worked so tirelessly to plan through and how excited you were to be on the other side of accomplishing them. Maybe you accomplished a few. Maybe you at least got closer to reaching them. Maybe you’re still as far along as that February entry. Nevertheless, time has passed. There are brand new things in your life. You have been through three full seasons since you were your old self. You notice how some things have fallen off since then. You think of all the new people, events, hobbies and prospects that orbit your sphere.
Seasons are not just the changing temperature outside. Seasons are chapters. Some things are meant to be seasonal. Some people are meant to be seasonal. It is so easy to become attached to those leaves that sit so beautifully on the trees. But being attached to them rather than appreciating them for their time leads to an inevitable breakdown when those leaves eventually fall as they are meant to do.
What we must do is this. Enjoy each season. Come hell or high water. Enjoy them. Enjoy those coldest moments that sometimes feel as though they will never end. Find something in that time to appreaciate. The ebb will eventually flow and things will warm up. Keep at those goals. Put in effort each day to get closer to the you that you want to be. Forgive yourself when you inevitably fall short. We all do. But pick yourself up and keep pressing on.
The seasons will come whether we want them to or not. What we do with each season is up to us.
