Feel the Refreshing Chill of Change
I know you know. I know you’ve heard. However, I can’t help but to say it again. I. Love. These. Three. Months.
It’s more than just the holidays, the fancy outfits, and the decorations. Those are just a few of the reasons I love these final three months of the year. You can, of course, add to the list the closeness of family and gatherings of friends to make the season even cozier. However, another reason is the weather. I love chilly mornings and changing leaves.
I live in Florida, which means I don’t see an abundance of either. Eleven months out of the year its shorts and flip flop weather. You can stretch out on the beach in the skimpiest outfit and still be toasty warm. The rest of the year it’s a little cool with only a handful of days downright freezing.
Perhaps it’s because of the rarity of temperature changes that I get a rush when the red drops below seventy, even for a couple of days. Sweating all year long gets tedious and draining. I get tired of walking to the mailbox and having to change shirts when I get back inside. You have to rush home from the grocers before the ice cream melts. It can tire a person out being over 100 degrees day after day.
When the needle drops and the air turns chill and brisk, it’s like an invigorating shot in the motivation. Where I was wilting before, now there’s a perkiness to every step. The sudden weather change wakes you up more than the strongest coffee. My blood races whereas it was sluggish before. I feel energetic and alive. I want to move about instead of boiling in my own sweat on the couch.
The change of seasons also gives you a new, fresh perspective. The landscape looks different, and therefore, offers you a chance to view things with new eyes. I’m not just talking about the leaves on the trees or the ground as it starts to freeze over with the white blanket of snow. I’m referring to life. As green turns to red and gold and brown, as sticky, humid air turns crisp and cold, look at everything around you. Like the heat of Florida, has something become tedious and stifling? Have you been enduring in anticipation of something different; better? If so, then give yourself that needed energy boost and make some changes. They don’t even have to be anything elaborate or as drastic as going from temperatures in the hundreds to below freezing. They say that if you change the thermostat in your house just one degree higher you can save enough power and money to run your entire house for a full day. A little change can equal a big difference.
When I find myself stuck on a scene I am writing or struggling with a blog post, sometimes a change of scenery is all I need to get the imagination flowing again. It may be as simple as moving from the porch to my favorite recliner in the front room or something more entailed such as packing everything up and hitting a coffee house or the beach for a whole new view. Believe me, it works. One of my Twitter friends, David Brown aka @elenchera, does the same thing. He will haul his writing to a coffee shop away from the distractions at home and most of the time the words come easier.
If you’re tired of the way the house looks, rearrange the furniture, buy new drapes, or simply change the pictures on the wall. If you’re frustrated with looking at the same mess every morning in the mirror, then dye your hair, grow a beard, or go from glasses to contacts or vice versa. Change the look of your lawn by planting flowers or shrubs. Break the monotony of life by adding something new to your week. It’ll add a spark to your day and give you a new perspective.
Perhaps that’s why I enjoy these months so much. By their very nature they are about change. The house changes with decorations. The menus change with holiday dishes and delights, which changes the aromas in the house. Even the clothes we wear take on a different appearance and our calendar fills up with festive activities instead of just boring business meetings. The season forces our eyes to look at things differently, to be made more aware of those in our lives. I mean, you can’t necessarily buy them a gift without thinking about them to some degree even if it’s “Oh my god, what will they want!” You may have ignored them all year, busy with your own life, but now you’re made aware of your negligence as holiday meals and gatherings are planned and you have to rearrange things. That’s still change.
Embrace these months and the weather changes. On January 2nd, though the cold weather may still be here, the rest of life returns to ordinary. However, you don’t have to allow it to be business as usual. You can keep it from staying the same as it’s always been and leave the rut you find yourself in. Every quarter in big red marker put on your calendar “Change something!” and then do it! Anything. Keep your life fresh; your eyes open. Keep your life alive and crisp, avoiding the humid muck of stagnation. Relish in the change of the seasons and stretch yourself in the year to come, enjoying the change that life throws at you and that you will create for yourself.
Oh, and bundle up out there. Another cold front is coming in.
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