Moving Forward With Loving Action

My least favorite time of the year is winter. In some regions, winter literally is the time for foliage and bugs to die, and everything turns brown and gray. In my own life, I can see where some things I didn’t need have died and relationships I didn’t need have died off.

Spring

My second favorite season of the year is Spring. I love the change of seasons, and mostly, I love late spring when it gets warmer and transitions into my favorite season. I also like spring because I remember seeds I have sown in previous years will start to bloom. As I see my roses begin to bud and blossom outside of my windows each Spring, it reminds me to think of the figurative buds and blossoms in my life. I am grateful for the seeds in my life where I can see the work I have put in for the past several months begin to blossom. I also love to see new relationships, personal and professional, that start to grow more.

Summer

My favorite season is summer because I have always felt less tethered to structured schedules and free to just do whatever I love. Having ADHD and Autism create a unique mix for me where I lose track of time easily, but I also hyperfocus easily. So reading for hours and hours has always been my favorite thing to do during summer vacations, and I know my family and friends have always thought I was a weirdo for this. And it brings me such great joy. The summer has always been a time of freedom, relaxation, fun, and making lifelong memories.

Fall

Fall has always had mixed feelings for me. I like Fall because of the beautiful changing leaves, and because we get relief from the intense heat, eventually. However, it is also a season of very bad memories that trigger my trauma and grief. So, despite the beauty of the leaves changing and air cooling off, I tend to kind of disassociate or numb out until we get to the holiday season.

Winter

And then during the holiday season, I start the grief cycle all over again. I have been missing my dead family members intensely during the holidays. And then the holidays bring me great joy when I start to remember all the beautiful memories we shared over the years. Like Spring, remembering my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, also brings me great joy during this season. I’ve learned that it’s okay to have both joy and grief. Yes, I am joyful, and I am still grieving my loved ones.

So, in a nutshell, summer represents freedom and rest to me, while winter represents both grief and joy. Spring represents change and renewal, while fall represents change and trauma. It’s amazing how each season has such a strong representation of certain emotions for me.

I am grateful to say that I am seeing spring in my life after a very long winter season that seemed it would never end. I will share more over time about the types of challenges I faced and how I got past them. For now, I’ll just say that they were challenges of betrayal and manipulation that have been devastating for me on more than one level. I am grateful that God has helped me push past the devastation and emerge from those ashes with joy and gratefulness in my heart.

Journal Prompts for You

• Do you feel it is important to recognize seasonal shifts, and if so, why?
• When and where do you feel the most seasonal shifts in your life? (e.g., winter holidays or while visiting your home town)
• What are the seasonal triggers that evoke certain feelings, emotions, or memories for you? (e.g., the smell of a certain food or hearing an old song)
• How do you manage the more negative emotions? (e.g., taking extra time off for mental health days)
• Who supports you most during the tougher seasons? (e.g., counselor or close friend)

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