Ah finally, we’ve made it to Spring. If the awakening green buds and smiling afternoon sun weren’t tell enough, I’m sure your rapid-fire sneezes and Olympic-sprinter nose drips forced you to some conclusions. Though I can’t say I’m much a fan of the allergies, Spring has to be my most favorite season. I love the ability to rise each morning to the soft, temperate weather (especially after such a long time under winter’s icy thumb) and I’m transfixed by the almost exponential greenery growth easily evident each day. And, of course, it always seems easier to look on the bright side of life in lightening days compared to the dark, shadowed winter months. The whole environment really is filled with a magical energy of newfound growth.
Now I don’t know about you, but I am more than ready to leave this past winter in the rear view. This was a challenging winter for me for many reasons. Premature leave from school complicated my early season, while post-New-Year prime-time Jack Frost made getting out of my house and my head more difficult. And after March’s final chill brought me almost a month of physical ailments, the warming weather and waning adversities are, in my eyes, a welcome change.
See, the transition between seasons very much strikes me as an extraordinarily powerful point of the year. One where new birth and new possibility can be found nosing around every corner. Acutely awakening each morning to this elevating atmosphere, I’ve been mindful to maximize my interactions with Mother Nature- exceedingly trying my best to uncover the hidden wisdom within her adapting environment. Even on my regular ventures out and about on campus I’ve been stopping frequently to interrogate the budding blooms and inspect their intricate arrangements. A motion which I’d argue is motivated half from curiosity and half from necessity. Meaning more specifically that in the thick of my strained physical and mental state of recent, nature continues to prove itself to be my best source of serene guidance.
Its words of wisdom this time? Resilience over resistance.
After being compassionately frosted for many months, Mother Nature’s sprouts emerge from the adverse conditions, energized and eager. Enlivened by the restored strength to stretch their shoots and refine their foliage, the air is filled with the excitement exuding from these gleaming petals and tickled contours. The revelation that these entities take no discouragement or demotivation from this routine roadblock to their growth goals, was an enlightening observation -especially when compared in context to my rather frustrating obstructions of late. Could I help my immune systems struggles? Not anymore than I already have. Did I still have to deal with the laundry list of handicaps they left me with? Without a doubt. Yet, nevertheless, just as the brittle steams must persist through the hardships of winter, I must also persist through the struggles of sickness. And deeper still, these blossoms don’t just persist ‘going through the motions’ still to be bogged down by the drudgery or strain granted from their desperate straits -quite the opposite really. These beautified bodies intuitively use the withering winters to shed their limping limbs and centralize their inner-power from their ability to able to capitalize on these stagnating months to rebuild their strength stores. Ultimately though, this rather alternative advisory has lead me to the the all important point that if a jumble of shrubbery can persist through such unwelcoming conditions why shouldn’t I?
I feel like in life there are truly defining moments that test your internal strength and conviction towards your goals. Now it might seem melodramatic to some, but this past month has felt like one of those moments for me. My determination, spirit, and resilience were all tested immensely for a variety of different reasons. And honestly, many days I did feel lost and confused. And many days I did feel as though I was “persisting” propelled from a place of negativity regarding factors in and outside of my control. Yet, as long as I am striving to meet these struggles with even more days of pure will and determination towards my goals can I m transition to this momentarily place of rebirth.
Spring’s soft hug is pushing us all to listen to its practiced wisdom.
Whistling all around us, at any given moment it serves aptly as a reminder that life is a dynamic process full of ebbs and flows. To expect anything different is unrealistic and naive. Bruce Lee once famously said that the secret to life was to “be like water," suggesting the exceptional importance of being creative and flexible in response to adversity. Resilience breeds this flexibility as well as a dutiful devotion to commitment and resolve. All of which are keys to the foundation to success.
At any point of our life’s cycle all we can ever ask from ourselves is to take the cards we are dealt in that moment and take the most we can from them. No matter how cold and impossibly defeating the winter may seem, the reinvigorating Spring WILL come. Some things just may take a little more time to mature than you may have initially wanted or expected them to. Learning to internalize this universal truth is pivotal for encouraging us to shed our own dead leaves and to restrengthen our own inner power, as it can serve as the uncomfortable reminder that to some extent regrowth requires some form of regression.
So, as the trees continue to full, and the flowers continue to bud, maybe try to just take a moment to simply sit in the magic energy that is spring. Breath in the energetic inspiration, think about what this divine transition might mean for you. What old branches will you shed? What core steams have you protected? In this time of exciting rebirth, a little more mindfulness in regard to what you are evolving to be, and a little more appreciation for the frosts you have weathered can do nothing but sow your seeds of success.