This is not normal. The plants are budding, the grass is greening and birds are singing – all ushering in a new season with pomp and circumstance. And it feels so…weird.
I’ve lived in Minnesota nearly my whole life; I know the seasons like the back of my hand. Winter is long and hard, but when spring finally arrives in April or May, it feels like the sweetest reward for surviving brutally bitter temperatures and mountains of snow. But this past winter was neither long nor hard – and there’s no sign of it returning for one last bitter blast {which it usually does}.
So, we’re all tiptoeing around – as if we might stir winter awake or curse our good fortune – as the earth springs to life around us. Yesterday, my cousin Nate said it’s like finding $40 at the ATM, unsuccessfully looking for its rightful owner, and then feeling too guilty to spend it. So true; we feel undeserving of this gift, unsure of how to bloom without suffering through a dark winter first, worried that it’s too good to be true.
This is how most of us approach unexpected blessings; we let guilt overshadow gratitude and let our past dictate the present and future. We spend countless frigid winters begging for mercy – and then feel bad when spring arrives early. We spend years hoping for change in our work, our relationships, our finances – and then question any change that comes too easy.
I know this may sound craaaaazy…but what if we just choose to receive it all with grace and glee, like the trees and flowers that are rising up to meet spring’s early arrival? The buds are popping here, joyfully embracing the chance to be in the world earlier than ever before. Wiser than most us, happier than most of us, fulfilling their mission to bloom and grow. I vote for following their lead.
Oh Liv…I’m so with you. I’m snapping picture after picture of my tulip and daffodil greens, all the while shaking my head and saying “Oohhhh, no, they’re going to be crushed by snow. It’s gonna happnen.”
Why waste these moments of grace with worry about something that may or may not even happen?
Why not–as you so beautifully said–accept it with grace and glee?
And if it snows…well…I’ll curl up in cozy pj’s with a cup of cocoa and watch out the window. And then I’ll brush the snow off my sweet little flowers with gratitude for their bravery and audacity.
Ahhhh…imagine tulips and hot cocoa on the same day!? Talk about bliss!
Liv,
You said it Beautifully!! How we sabatoge ourselves into thinking “this isn’t for us”. Woo-Hoo!!
I just got home from running to the nighborhood store & as Im driving down the side road I saw a bush in FULL Bloom of White Blossoms. I had to remind myself that this is still MARCH.!!
Such an interesting and intuitive connection Liv. A little “grace and glee” sounds wonderful!! xx
Liv,
You captured in words exactly what had been running through my mind more than once these past few days! What’s with that feeling we get of waiting for the other shoe to drop? I am ecstatic that spring has sprung so early here in the northeast. I did have to stop and do a double check of the date today as I was driving and admiring the view of the trees blossoming and the flowers blooming. And it really is only March 21st! Yowza. I agree wholeheartedly with you. Let’s follow the flowers’ lead so we too can blossom and bloom early this year! Sooooo ready for it. Thanks for the inspiration.
Thanks, Lori! So much emphasis on late bloomers – we forget EARLY blooming is possible, too! xo
This is such a wonderful post. The feeling you talk about is one that I’ve felt before but never really defined. Experiencing something joyful but then not trusting that you deserve it. I think we all do that. Accepting it with grace and glee is such a wonderful notion. Beautiful, beautiful post. It moved me.
Oh, DeAnne – I’m so glad it struck a nerve and paved a way to your heart. Love to you today!
Liv, I love how you illustrated your message with the early coming of spring. I’ve encountered this same ‘can’t have’ feeling both within myself and the business people I work with. No matter how much we think we want something, if we’ve got an unconscious (or perhaps conscious) story going that we don’t deserve it or that having it makes us ‘bad’ or ‘wrong’ we aren’t able to own it or derive the happiness we seek. It reminds me that its our perspective that creates satisfaction and happiness (not the external circumstance like it being winter or spring). Thanks for the lovely reminder.