When you read the word “winter”, what comes to your mind? Does it come ideas such as happiness, fun and joy? Or is it more related to stillness, calmness and coziness?
Ideas and concepts, as well as words, can bring some emotional state to the surface and understanding that is a very important part of understanding who we are and how to better navigate through our day-to-day life.
What I normally find is that most people don’t like wintertime: they think it is not enjoyable — or even a bit depressive. Winter is about lazy and cold days. Summer, in contrast, seems to be the best season of the year for most people I talk to. This season is the moment for cold drinks outside, that tropical fruit ice cream and sunsets at 8 pm. This season seems like a “good life” and, if the whole year was just about summer, that would probably be heaven.
I come from a part of Brazil where winter is not a word we use. It is just less hot than other moments of the year — and rainy — but it is definitely not cold. We still go to the beach on wintertime, get tanned and have fruit ice cream. I realized I have never had winter before when I went to Europe — and it was a struggle.
Emotionally, physically, and energetically it was not enjoyable at all. I wasn’t used to dealing with winter growing up so facing my first winter by myself made me question how people actually make it to the end of this season.
P.S.: my first winter was in Portugal.
But that was a great, important lesson for me.
If we take the analogy of winter and summer as the lowest and highest moments of our lives, respectively, we can start unpacking a very important life lesson I got from paying more attention to nature.
With this analogy in mind, growing up I was living the “high life”: not many struggles, not many changes. Just a very stable type of season. Coming to Portugal made me face the first lowest moment of my life — wintertime. And that made me feel as if I had just lost a limb. The pain was so big and unbearable that I thought about giving up and going back to Brazil — in this analogy, going back to the high, enjoyable life. Facing that challenge wasn’t easy so, to me, it was a nightmare.
After some years of being in contact with winter in Europe, I got used to it. I still find it difficult but not as close as in my first year. Now I am a lot more prepared to face it: scarves, gloves, and a nice hot cup of coffee. Now, when winter comes, I know what to do to make sure I get to the end of this season prepared for the beginning of the next one.
In summary, winter made me realize how important it is to face your fears, experience your down moments and go through it every time, even if it hurts. One day, these episodes are going to be as simple as cozy wintertime because now you know how to prepare yourself to face it.
Appreciate these moments because they are preparing you to face bigger, more demanding circumstances later on in your life. Enjoy every season: winter, summer, spring, and autumn. Each one has its beauty and importance so do not wish for the next one without understanding the lessons these seasons are giving you at this exact moment.
Enjoy the diversity of seasons in your own life.
