Living Seasonally

 

A change of season can be a powerful change of mindset

I was born on an island in the Caribbean and migrated to the northeast United States by age nine. To this day, I feel like the northeast is where my childhood started. I may as well have been born there. That is where I felt at home and still do.

During the six or so years that I lived in the northeast, I saw how difficult it was for my parents to adjust to working and living a daily life-not only in a foreign country, but in an area with real winters and seasons that changed. They complained constantly but I was in heaven. Eventually, they got their way. By the time I was fifteen, my family moved to southeast Florida and I, not being old enough to have a choice, moved with them.

I wasn’t aware then that the change in seasons can influence your body’s melatonin and serotonin-the natural substances that play a role in sleep timing and moods. It can have even more serious repercussions than dry skin and weight gain. Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD, can cause major depressive episodes, usually beginning in late fall or early winter. This is when the days are shorter and exposure to sun is at its lowest.

There is even evidence of seasonal peaks in suicides, which occur more frequently in summer, and birth rates, which also tend to peak in spring and summer.

Even though spring and summer can bring in a time of adventure and outdoor exploration, stress and anxiety levels often rise in autumn, when routines and busy schedules resume.

Soon after we moved to south Florida I learned that, as the Earth continues its path around the sun, days become shorter and nights lengthen, with the change becoming mainly pronounced in the higher latitudes, but remaining nonexistent at the areas closer to the equator, which is where I now live.

While I’ve made a life for myself in Florida, I find myself missing those changes of season more and more as I get older.

There was something special about having a change of seasons. It helped me move forward in life whether good things or bad things happened. Sometimes I experienced better moods just because of a change of seasons. I believe that the power of nature reconnects us with some of our routines that were lost in the previous season. The change of season affected how I dressed, what sport I watched and what holiday gathering I would attend. It affected how I lived. I would get excited about the snow, having meaningful gatherings at Easter, gardening or tending to the earth, and going outside just to sit in the sun after a long winter. I was part of nature doing it’s thing!

Living seasonally lends itself to personal reflection. It allows us to take a moment and focus upon the positive effects that nature has upon us. We can let the positive aspects of nature affect our attitudes and influence our moods and behavior. We can work at developing positive thinking and transform it into positive reinforcement of others. We can get outside of ourselves and become more “other” oriented.

For me, the shifting of the seasons brings about a lot of change and with change there can be a lot of beauty. Whenever change does occur, expected or not, it can be uplifting, encouraging, and amazing.

Maybe someday...