No matter how stressed I am in the moment with school, or how much seasonal sadness has clouded my mind, I am always hit with what I call the “side-walk realization.”
When I was in middle school, I took the bus to and from school every day. I trudged and made the 400-foot walk from the bus stop to my pretty grey house with my mom’s flowers each afternoon. Those walks were filled with the laughs of my neighborhood friends, but also the many sighs of dread knowing I had mountains of homework waiting for me. Most days, slushy snow would slow me down physically and mentally and my eyes would be begging for a nap after a long day as a seventh-grader.
But, once a year, the day came where the air smelt different and felt really good on my skin. It was the kind of day where I didn’t just stare at my feet, rushing to get home to outrun the cold. I would look up, and finally feel the warmth on my face. “Ah, spring.”
That first day where you begin to really feel that beauty, that warmth, and that relief that is spring is the day that you get reassurance that everything will be okay. I know this because I always experience this, that realization that everything does get better. I mean if the weather can go from a freezing storm to beautiful greens and sunshine, you can turn your life around a little too.
I call this the “sidewalk realization” because when I would just be walking home, I would see that spring has finally hit, and even though this has happened every time, it still always surprises me every year. You see, I’ve learned that when you are in a rut, facing burnout, or just not in love with everyday life, the good times also seem to come out of nowhere. I guess that’s just the beauty of life that spring reminds us of.