Fall: Endings and Beginnings
Fall is a time of contrasts in the cycles of life. We see the most beautiful colors of the year during fall, but those very colors exist because things are dying off. Leaves fall, trees go dormant; days get shorter and colder. As kids we trade the lively freedom of summer for the dead bleak confinement of school.
Those of us who sometimes face Seasonal Affective Disorder see fall as prelude to the dreaded joyous and often depressing holidays. How ironic is it that SAD and Happy Holidays run concurrently?
Fall is a powerful season in my own life. My first great love began with a fall date. My first move away from the emotional safety and security of my hometown occurred at the end of fall one year. Fall is my favorite season to pursue my favorite hobby, photography.
Fall 2001 is probably the most significant fall in my life, and the most depressing: the terrorist attacks in September, moving Dad and Mom into a nursing home in October, Dad’s death in November. I checked out emotionally and mentally during the next several months and flashbacks to that year pop into my head and heart at least a couple of times each fall and winter.
This fall is transitional for me and some of my closest friends know why. Part of me moves forward and part of me gets sucked back into where I’ve been. My personal battle between what I want to do and what I’m supposed to do rages on and the cloudy damp fall weather outside the window next to me as I write this isn’t helping.
Yet that very same weather is photographically inspirational.
My optimistic nature guides me to embrace the contrasts of the season. Live in the moment, moment after moment, knowing that rebirth and renewal are all part of this cycle. Whatever happens over the next two seasons, spring will arrive like it always does, signaling new growth, a different set of bright colors, and the beginning of many more moments to live in.
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I am certainly not alone in my mixed feelings about fall. How do you feel? Post your thoughts in Comments. Better still, blog about it and send me your link. We can share the season.
Those of us who sometimes face Seasonal Affective Disorder see fall as prelude to the dreaded joyous and often depressing holidays. How ironic is it that SAD and Happy Holidays run concurrently?
Fall is a powerful season in my own life. My first great love began with a fall date. My first move away from the emotional safety and security of my hometown occurred at the end of fall one year. Fall is my favorite season to pursue my favorite hobby, photography.
Fall 2001 is probably the most significant fall in my life, and the most depressing: the terrorist attacks in September, moving Dad and Mom into a nursing home in October, Dad’s death in November. I checked out emotionally and mentally during the next several months and flashbacks to that year pop into my head and heart at least a couple of times each fall and winter.
This fall is transitional for me and some of my closest friends know why. Part of me moves forward and part of me gets sucked back into where I’ve been. My personal battle between what I want to do and what I’m supposed to do rages on and the cloudy damp fall weather outside the window next to me as I write this isn’t helping.
Yet that very same weather is photographically inspirational.
My optimistic nature guides me to embrace the contrasts of the season. Live in the moment, moment after moment, knowing that rebirth and renewal are all part of this cycle. Whatever happens over the next two seasons, spring will arrive like it always does, signaling new growth, a different set of bright colors, and the beginning of many more moments to live in.
============
I am certainly not alone in my mixed feelings about fall. How do you feel? Post your thoughts in Comments. Better still, blog about it and send me your link. We can share the season.
Comments
But our instincts have not left us entirely, we do know that spring will come again, and the cycle begins anew.
Think of fall and winter as a resting and renewal time. This is when introspection is best done, without the distractions of the fullness of life, of living. The earth rests, and renews herself, storing up to burst forth when spring restarts the process again. So to, we need to rest and recharge.
Guess I should have put this in my blog!