Dearest Clara,
We thought it would never come but sunnier days, warmer breezes and little shoots of green are finally on their way. After winter seemed to return again and again this year, I think springtime has finally arrived.
When I notice the days finally getting longer, I become a happier person. It’s a gift to see the seasons renew right before our eyes and here are a few things that help celebrate the coming spring season:
- Go outside on that first really gorgeous day: Drop what your doing. . . sneak out of work early. . . cancel that evening you planned to spend inside cooking or studying or cleaning. This is the time to enjoy the fresh air, to grab sandwiches and enjoy lunch in the park, to walk the long way home. Inevitably, the winter chills always pop back once or twice after we see the first signs of spring but if you make the time to enjoy it, it will stay springtime in your heart. Don’t let those first warm rays of the season pass you by.
- Clean out your closet: Go through and assess what doesn’t work for you with the change of the year, and figure out what won’t work for you at all anymore. If it’s too old, needs too many repairs or needs too many pounds one way or the other, lose it. You’ll feel better going into spring when you look at items you actually wear in your closet---somehow with less things, we often have more options.
- Buy something in color: Now that you have all that room in your closet, you can afford a little treat. We spend so much of winter in practical blacks, browns, greys. . . at least I do. Celebrate spring by buying something in color---it might be a shirt, or a scarf or a necklace. . . it doesn’t have to be big, but just a small thing that helps you celebrate the fresh start of spring.
- Take a walk in the rain: While what we often appreciate most about spring is the sunshine, the thing that really makes spring possible is the rain. When living in Normandy, I couldn’t wait for the rains to stop until someone reminded me that if it didn’t rain so much, we wouldn’t have so much greenery to enjoy. Make the time to enjoy a rainy walk and just look around to see how much it feeds the colors and growth around you. Take that same walk in the sunshine afterwards and you’ll appreciate a whole new world around you.
- Have a happy new year: Your Christian roots will teach you to celebrate this time of year as a renewal in the church calendar; your Persian roots will teach you to celebrate spring as a new year of new beginnings. Like January for calendar years, and September for school years, use this variation of a new year to wipe the slate clean and reset yourself for a fresh start. If you made New Year’s resolutions, check in with them to see how you’re doing---where you need to refocus, and where you need to reframe. The beautiful thing about new years of any kind is that they are full of new beginnings, take advantage of that.
All my love,
Mom