Not Long To Go

This time of year is always difficult for me. The end days of winter always insist on hanging on through rain and wind and hail. Where my mind and body crave the warmth and comfort of the sun, I am met with only the blistering gloom and the biting cold. My seasonal depression always hits pretty hard on these darker days, and it is with great effort that I pull myself from my covers and begin the work that the day has set before me.

As much as I love the fall and winter seasons, with their vibrant colors and invitations for days spent bundled by firelight, I often forget how romanticized those images are. The reality is much more along the lines of layered coats to fight shearing winds and sleet as it pelts my face leaving me shivering for hours.

However, now that the seasonal clock has finally struck spring, the sun-filled days are beginning to grow, and I am greeted with the sounds of birdsong with each new dawn. Rays of warmth filtering through my window fill my cold and aching bones with energy and burn off the fog in my clouded mind.

It is the promise of comfort and serenity which serve to get me through these last few weeks of winter weather. I have a trip along the western coast planned for a week after leaving school, pulling and guiding me through this stressful time. I fill my mind with sensations of sand beneath my feet and waves against my knees, imagining the breath of the ocean breeze as I take in the sea. I am almost there. Not long to go.