Winters here where I live are dark and dreary and often this type of weather goes on for days. Seasonal depression is a real concern here. People purchase happy lights and try all sorts of different things to get through this season. I find it really hard for our family in terms of health. We are often unwell from January to March. Our house is lovely, amazing, but we are all in our living room together all the time and people start to get on each other's nerves. Pair that with sickness, dark weather and damp cold and it's not the most pleasant or cheerful environment. We are in the thick of this season right now. I am home for days on end only leaving to run a quick errand or drive someone to an activity. It wears me mentally thinner and thinner.
However, because of this I can't completely express to you the joy that a day full of sunshine brings! The sunshine feels like a benediction. People feel more energetic, more capable, happier, more ambitious and they realize that they are okay! That life is worth living, that it was just the weather! (cue a sigh of relief) It is not easy to go day after day wishing for sun but we do. When it comes it is such a blessing.
The other day the sun came out. The weather felt almost spring like. Everyone bundled up and headed outside. Snowdrops are blooming in our front yard under our Japanese Maple and Robins are back in town. The neighbor children were outside on roller blades and scooters and so everyone joined forces to expend energy. I chatted to my neighbor who I had not seen all winter. The life that I could feel pouring into me sustained me through the next few days of my baby getting quite sick and then all the rest of my children following suite. This was just weeks after everyone getting the flue one by one.
Life is like that. Suffering or going without has this opportunity to bring a renewed or heightened sense of gratitude. As I journey through another winter trying to keep my head above water and trying to lead my family through the dark days I feel overwhelmed and hopeless ~ and then a sunny day comes and I am so filled with thankfulness. So onwards and upwards we go as we make it through another winter one day at a time.
That's all :)
Tansy
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