Does anyone hate Spring?
I’m sure you’re out there but I’m genuinely curious how someone could hate all of the growth and new life (allergies, maybe?) Which now that I say that, let’s see how I’m faring a month into Spring as I’m allergic to the entire outdoors.
I’m sitting out back on my deck writing this using an outdoor box as a makeshift desk with a cool/warm, peaceful breeze, the sun is shining on my face, everything is green, I’m drinking a Red Stripe and listening to the birds chirp (and the neighbor kids in the bounce house, assuming an early Easter celebration).
A lot of people expect January 1st to be the big change each year but I think I’ve just come to realize that it is Spring. New life, rebirth, another shot. You might think, yea, duh…but I had never seen it until today. This is my first Spring in my new life and I’m grateful, I actually see what is around me rather than just hammering through the day. I feel human, I feel revitalized, I can’t wait to garden this year - I’m having an out of body experience…but I think that’s the point.
What if we lived in a place that had no Spring, no renewal or growth, no rebirth, no green - all the time. Sure, some of you reading this don’t have the joy of living in a place that has 4 seasons but I can tell you that here in Chicago, the first day of Spring is always welcome, before the summer heat and mosquitoes. For me this year, Spring forces me to get out of my body and into nature, into my surroundings and appreciate a blade of grass - remember when we used to do that as kids? Now I suspect that you would say, “who has the time?”
As my career pivoted, so did my day to day wellbeing - as stated, I was just hammering the days away, wishing time away until the next break or next season - if only I could get to “X” day or month. I can now happily report that most days I have no idea what day or time it is, and that makes me happier than I ever could have been. I’m spewing all of this warm fuzzy because you too can unsubscribe - even at your corporate job, you can do what serves you, work on your timing and still meet goals - you don’t have to subscribe to hustle and grind culture. Go outside and play in the dirt, pick dandelions, whatever your favorite pasttime was as a kid - go ahead, roll your eyes, not sure how you got this far but for some reason you’re still reading, so go pick a damn dandelion.
Anyway, not everyone has to do what I did, one day say “today’s my last day”, but I hope you think about what could help you live life more presently, so that your solar plexus chakra (too woo?), ok so that your gut, head, or heart doesn’t hurt every day that you keep doing something that doesn’t serve you. It’s genuinely within your reach, you just need to give yourself the permission to wonder, to say “what if” - it’s there, already in you, just needs fanned and supported.
Ok, deuces. Back to looking at blades of grass.
