A few weeks ago, my beautiful friend shared this post from a page called Wilder Child:
It stuck with me.
I’m no fan of the cold weather, which is why I’m happy to be living in Las Vegas rather than my native South Dakota. I visited late last year and left during a snowstorm. That biting cold, that fighting of the icy roads, is not something I miss.
I went to get a haircut while I was in South Dakota with the stylist who has cut my hair for 20 years. While I was in the chair, we started talking about seasons.
She mentioned how she doesn’t mind winter. Her salon is in her basement and she can watch the season like a snow globe. That’s how I like my winter, too. Distant.
This talk of weather seasons also got us talking about seasons of life and how quick we are to push ourselves through them sometimes. It wasn’t long ago that a parent of two young children said to me, “This is frustrating, but I just try to focus on the fact that they’ll get older soon and we’ll have more freedom.” She’s essentially wishing away entire years.
And I get it. I’ve been there. I think we all have.
But as my stylist said with a shrug, “It’s just a season.”
There’s value in all of it, and when we power through it, we don’t get it back. We’re going to go through it one way or another, so why not enjoy what we can about it while it’s happening? When it’s gone, it’s gone.
I wish I could give you a step-by-step on how to do this, but I can’t. My only thought is that it comes back to yoga (of course): staying present. When we start wishing ourselves past a season, we’re living in the future–which is pure invention. It doesn’t exist.
I’m getting better at this. Our suffering is tied to our urgency and anxiety. When we take a deep breath and stay where we are, that anxiety dissipates.
So this season, let’s try not to wish the winter away, whatever that “winter” is in your own life. I’m still glad I live in Las Vegas, but I will face winters here, too. And when I do, I want to stay present with them and learn what I can rather than tolerating them and wishing them away.