False Spring
a necessary respite because life is hard
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I walked outside today. The sky was an impossibly clear blue, with only soft clouds at the far western edge. The sun was bright, and the temperatures were a balmy 40 degrees, a noticeable softening from the bone-chilling single digits of last week. I didn’t walk far, just around and around the yard in the paths we cut for the dog with the snow blower. The snow is still nearly a foot deep, but the exposed ground is softening, and I leave squishy, smeared footprints in the surface layer of mud.
My favorite meteorologist on YouTube has warned us of an imminent false spring. In fact, depending on where you live, you may already be experiencing this. In the middle part of the US, temperatures may be as much as 40 degrees above normal. Along the northeast coast, I won’t see a spike that high, but I do expect some balmy days, which will be a relief after the deep freeze of the past several weeks.
However, I want to talk about this idea of a false spring and what we can learn from nature when this happens. First off, I’d like to rename this weather pattern. False spring sounds so nefarious. It sounds devious, deceptive, as if Mother Nature were playing a nasty trick on us. I’d rather like to think of it as a spring preview, a foretaste of the delights to come once the equinox passes and the days begin to lengthen substantially. Mostly, I’d like to think of it as an infusion of hope in a bleak and gloomy time, a lifeline that reminds us that this too shall pass, that time heals, and that life goes on. As cliché as those phrases are, the reality of a burst of warmth and sunshine in February is a proof text, so to speak, that things do change, and often for the better. Despair is the one truly dangerous emotion; it’s an emotion that, while truly felt, is also rooted in deception. The internal belief that no change can ever occur is a thought that will completely freeze you in place, kill every thought of possibility, and rob you of agency, free will, and hope.
A mini-spring in February fuels hope. It lifts the mood. This forecast course doesn’t mean that winter is over. It’s just a respite. Cold temperatures and snow will likely return before the winter season is finally over. So keep this in mind. This is the kind of realistic thinking that nature teaches us. She also gives us examples of what happens if we don’t. If you live somewhere that gets very unseasonably warm temperatures this week or next, keep an eye on flowering trees and shrubs. If their buds open during the warm spell and the cold temperatures return, the buds will be damaged, and you’ll likely not see many blooms on your rhododendrons or peaches on your trees come summer.
The lesson here is not to mistake the respite for the resolution. The journey through life is long, and times of success, calm, and joy are gifts meant to revive us and sustain us so that we can persevere when the strains and stresses of life return. The truth is, life is hard. The older I get, the more I realize that you can’t get around this. But false springs aren’t really false, they’re reminders. Something more is at play in the world, in our lives, and in reality as a whole. Life is hard, but it is also beautiful, meaningful, and glorious. Perhaps for life to be truly satisfying, and for us to be truly what we were made to be, we must do the hard thing, and that hard thing is living life, giving our time on earth all the attention, potential, love, and energy we have.
So if the so-called false spring turns up in your neck of the woods, set your intention to enjoy it. Drink it in and let it revive and refresh you, so you can draw on its encouraging effects when winter returns.
Enjoy every moment of the year. Each month is a gift, each season of life filled with goodness beyond measure.
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Bless you for the pre-emptive boost - reframing the coming weather-moment properly, before that unfortunate choice of ‘f-word’ has a chance to rewire our brains into a default negativity! You are indeed a “Wise Womyn!”