Four Seasons

Ever thought of life like the weather. I am sure you have, because how could you not? So many quotes have context to weather. ‘It never rains but it pours.’ Or ‘Best make hay while the sun shines.’  Even if you haven’t really given it much thought at all, or thought about it to that degree, I bet in some way, you have referred to weather in the context of a day or situation in your life. 

Life is very much like the weather… if so? Where exactly does the journey begin? Which season comes first and which is last?  Is it a, ‘What came first? The chicken or the egg situation? Do the seasons have sequential significance to life itself?

So many questions!! A way in which my mind operates. It never stops questioning. Too much information is never enough, and everything in life is linked to something or someone else, where there are greater things at play. My mind never rests and is always looking…searching for that missing piece to the puzzle. Analysing, investigating and linking the pieces, tying the two ends together to complete the once frazzled rope. Now, each end is no longer alone and in the dark or lonely but connected to another piece that brings closure. 

I will start, believing, that spring is the beginning. It is a start to all things new. It is the beginning of life and perhaps takes the shape of your life from infancy to about twelve.  There is beauty and creativity and love and innocence, and everything in the world has colour. The colours are vast, and every bud or blossom has a unique signature, a fragrance, that has the power to trigger intimate details of a time and or place.  The sun is generally shining and the rains that fall, water the soil and provide nourishment.  

Just like life, it is a time where everything is exciting, and very little is frightening. It is a time of curiosity and learning, a time of questioning and soaking up everything that you see, hear, smell, touch or taste. It is a period of happiness and discovery, where your soul is nourished and fed and you have security of a long life, a life of beauty and pleasures. The view is beautiful and you embrace it all. 

In the natural order of things, next you move to summer. Hmmmm, arguably the best season. Every flower is in full bloom, the forests cast shade on a sunny day and provide a shelter and resting  place for when the suns rays are scorching, looking to burn through the earth. Summer is a time of fun and laughter, much like your years from thirteen to thirty-six. You are youthful enough to venture further from your nesting ground but still within the security it provides. You are excitable and adventurous and eventually, free to explore the beauties of a pink-red sunset, or enjoy an early morning surf. You can enjoy the freedom that life abounds, and there is very little consequence. Just like the sun that burns and sometimes blazes too hot, you may, from time to time find yourself in a firery situation, but as long as you have the knowledge, of how to disarm the flames that can consume you, you will survive and receive the replenishment of summer rain. And if in doubt of your survival, then, with youthfulness on your side, you simply have the speed to outrun the flames without leaving too many scars. Whatever the reasons, you narrowly escape this time of your life, things in tact and some incredible summer time stories to share. Just like everything, there is an end, and the sun sets on summer for the last time before you awake to Autumn. 

I am not sure exactly when this happens, but it is some time in the latter part of your 30s. As with autumn, the leaves before falling will change colour, and the once, brightly coloured world seems very different. There is no longer the fire, or energy burning, but a stillness that comes and the colours are all still beautiful, but fewer. Perhaps the oranges, reds and yellow represent the fire that once burned inside you filtered by the dull moments represented by the browns. Perhaps it is your aging eyesight which is failing (as it does for some of us,) or perhaps it is simply, that you no longer see the world through rose tinted lenses, because you have weathered a few storms along the way that have tainted the colours in all their beauty and splendour. Either way, you realise that you are not invisible. You have a shelf life, and you do everything that you can, to hang onto that goodness, that youthful, and playful side. You fight the aging process and seek the excitement of feelings and emotions felt in your youth. It is the final cling to the branches that feed you life before a gust of wind pulls you from that source of life, and your journey downward to the ground begins before the cold settles on the ground and the icicles start to form on your heart.

Ever notice how some older people come across as grumpy… please note I said some, and therefore I am not generalising. This is perhaps, because they are stuck in the wrong season or perhaps stuck in groundhog day which defaults back to, the same season. Jokes aside!  I have not entered this stage of my life, so I can only speak on behalf of various references from my acquaintances of this generation.  

Following Autumn, is winter, and this is the final stage of your life. Perhaps from around sixty-five onwards. Movement of the creatures cease, as they seek shelter from the cold that is yet to come. Nature is stripped bear of its greenery and lusciousness, and everything starts to slowdown. White becomes the dominant colour. 

The winter brings with it, the purity of the colour and in it, and under it, a life of a planet that has endured a lifetime of challenges. Seasons of challenges. The snow brings a peace and tranquility to the planet, as it restores essential nutrients to the ground from which it was birthed. 

Comparing the season winter, to life itself, (opinion based), this is the period of life where acceptance of the inevitable takes place, you realise your mortality. You start to accept that, you are you, and that you have done your best, and you take comfort in that you have lived, be it good or bad, you have lived! You have achieved x amount of years of life!

You begin to appreciate the beauty in the finer details, and the smaller things in life, you begin to appreciate, even more, those, no longer physically with us, and the input they had in the life you lived, and who you have become.

You accept, that you are no longer the luscious beauty you once were, and understand, that the white and grey hair that now take residence with you, are signs of wisdom, and peace, and acceptance of your role in the greater circle of life. Your role, to impart that wisdom, and share the values learned over a lifetime, to share that experience of life, of four seasons, and therefore replenish a generation, that, not only gave you life through the joy encountered, but to whom you gave life.

And so the seasons have their order in life itself, which is the greatest seasonal cycle of all. Therefore it stands to reason that throughout life you may encounter periods of seasonal change. 

You will encounter times of joy and rebirth and beauty and excitement. Times where, everything is new and innocent, and you embrace EVERYTHING! Everything is extravagant, and you are curious and want to learn and know more. This is your spring.

You may experience a time in your life of hardship, struggles and emotional weariness, where you feel like everything is starting to die, or loose lustre of purpose. You may feel, this is the drought of a summer scorching sun that will leave its scars, or,  you may consider it a time of winter, cold, dark, grey and lonely. Which ever you choose to believe it to be, a new season follows. 

You may find yourself in a period where everything is going right for you, and you feel the stars are aligning, you feel invisible, and your confidence is heightened. This may be your summer, but it, too, will pass, and you will experience dry patches, dark patches and the colourful patches of autumn.

Your entire life cycle, from birth though to death, will be an ever changing season. Over the years of your life, you will encounter many such emotional seasons, you may even encounter all four these seasons in one day if your mind is wired like mine. 

Questions, all the questions, this is how the blog began. Questions. Why am I telling you all this? Why, is my mind trying to make this connection? What am I saying? Where is the logic in my writings? You see, everything in life has its season. Every relationship will go through seasons, every career, be it physically sporting, or, in a corporate world, everything goes through seasons. What you need to remember through it all, most importantly. It is just a season.  It, too, will pass. Tomorrow the sun may shine… and it may not, but one thing is certain. It will shine again.