This Spring, You Can Start Again

Sometimes change sneaks up on you.

This time, it didn’t. Last night, the ground was still frozen and every breath cut your lungs like a knife. This morning, the air is balmy, the ground is soft, and even the air feels like a caress on your face. It’s over. I’m sorry. We’re going to have good days now.

(The weather is like a bad boyfriend, in a way: it doesn’t care about your needs until you stop paying attention to it; then it tries to get you to care with extreme snow and hale, or throws gentle sunshine and pretty clouds out to win your affection. You cannot predict what will happen, your best bet is to never plan your life around it.)

Maybe you give a lot of credence to signs. Maybe you don’t. Still, this one seems too obvious to ignore. The winter was so long, and you were so tired. It’s nice to hope, if only it is to do so for a change.

I know it felt this way for me.

Winter WAS long. Not just because of bizarre weather patterns but also because how down in the dumps I felt. It was like walking around with a rock across my neck. There was no way to look to the future – I couldn’t even lift my head.

But now it seems like change is finally in the air. Doors I thought had closed for me are starting to open. The fear and terror of the last four months drove me to do some of the scariest, most intense writing and work I have in years. And now opportunities are coming along. Slowly, but surely. I feel like the load is beginning to lighten.

And yes, not everyone’s situation is the same. Maybe your spring is different from mine. Maybe your winter wasn’t as rough. Maybe they were worse.

What I know is that there is hope in the air, and that is what’s important. A chance to start again. Even if something frustrated and upset us, there is always a chance to start again.

But we have to reach out and take it.