Spring Has Sprung
As I write this piece the rain is lashing my windows and the Winter Olympics is on the TV. It has been a chaotic start to the year in my house and I’m reeling from the notion that we haven’t actually completed two months of the year yet! Back in the summer I read the book Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat by Katherine May.
I’d had it on my bookshelves for a few months waiting for the right time to read and despite it being the height of summer, I was experiencing a ‘wintering’ season. The book advocates for living with the seasons: rather than trying to keep going at whatever pace we think is ‘normal’, we should adjust our expectations according the to the season. In winter that means taking a more ‘rest and retreat’ approach to life, hunkering down and using resources we already have to carry us through the dark, cold days.
We are now standing on the cusp of Spring; the darkest days of the year are behind us again. As we step into March the days lengthen and get warmer and nature responds with green shoots in bleak, barren ground. It’s like the whole world is holding its breath, getting ready to exhale long and slow as we hover in the doorway to Spring; we are beckoned forward by the appearance of Mother Nature, smiling in anticipation of what we know is to come; warmer days, longer daylight hours, a burst of colour and fragrance in our gardens, balconies, parks and gardens as well as hedgerows and woodlands. This time of year, it is almost palpable, this pregnant expectation, this living in the now and the not yet.
I also feel as if I am on the cusp of Spring, having been given the gift of life once again after life saving surgery at the beginning of the year. My head feels clearer than it has done for a long while, my body feels more in tune with itself than it has done for an even longer time, my pain levels are low and so I feel good. It is good to feel like this, after a long period of wintering it is so very welcome to feel an internal awakening.