By Susan Govern
Tuesday, March 20, 2018 at 12:15 p.m. ~~ and it’s Spring!
I am so ready for a Spring thaw and to see more sunny days, feel the temperatures begin to rise and enjoy seeing everything bloom again. With each passing year I grow more weary of snow and dismal skies.
As much as I look forward to the transformation of nature this time of year, I have been thinking a lot about personal transformation. I guess it all started with the beginning of the season of Lent. Now what follows is not a “sermon” or my trying to “preach” in any way, it’s simply stating what I’ve been up to.
As a cradle Catholic I was raised that every Lent I was to give something up – make a sacrifice for 40 days until Easter. I did this for most of my life but for several years I’ve had a hard time feeling that “giving something up” was beneficial in any way. Instead I’ve done things to improve myself, specifically my prayer life. That positive step of doing something constructive instead of giving up something has been a nice change in how I approach Lent.
This year I realized that this doing something positive could go beyond the religious aspect; that I could experience a transformation like nature does. In other words – I could “grow” as a human being.
This came to me when I saw a quote (author unknown) that says “Let today be the start of something new”. It brought to mind the old saying “Today is the first day of the rest of your life”. Two good quotes and with a lot of truth packed into one sentence.
So I’ve been doing some thinking about what is already positive about my life, and you know what I found? I have a lot more good than bad going for me. I am married to a super wonderful guy, I have two loving, kind and smart kids, I am part of an extended family that is fun and loving, I’ve got friends that are just like family to me – yep, my life is good in many ways.
So how do I go about making some positive changes – what do I even want to change? It comes down to transforming my own attitude about how I look at things that happen around me.
I have to make my own Springtime – thaw myself out – and the way to do that is to start looking for the positives even in a negative situation. That’s the only way I can keep personal gloomy skies away.
Like last week, my daughter and a friend of hers were involved in a car accident. The friend was visiting our daughter and this was to be the start of a fun two week visit but instead the rental car was damaged and couldn’t be driven. I was upset for both of them that this would be such a dark cloud on the very beginning of their time together. Then I looked at the positive and realized no one was hurt, they walked away without a scratch and their visit together was going to continue. I let my own feelings of upset “thaw” and I was able to be positive and supportive when I talked to my daughter.
That was a big event where I had to transform my own viewpoint – I took the first step to do something new – I didn’t sit back and let worry take over my day.
Another way I’m embracing a Spring transformation is to let my own self-doubts slip away. Instead of seeing what I’m not capable of – that is comparing myself to others who have a talent I don’t possess – I am learning to just be me and appreciate what I am capable of doing.
I’ve always felt inadequate when it comes to being creative and artistic with crafts, but that’s just not the talent I was meant to have. Instead over the years I’ve used my love of writing to be creative and useful to others. Realizing this as a positive about myself makes my day a little sunnier.
We can all experience a personal Spring thaw by embracing that first quote (“Let today be the start of something new”), and that something new can be anything you need it to be.
So look to nature and this Spring begin life again with a positive outlook and a sense that today really is the first day of the rest of your life.
