Apparently it's spring now? But there's snow on the ground. In fact, I was pretty certain that today was going to be a snow day. Not exactly the climate that comes to mind when you think "New England spring." Unless it's just me that has this idealized image of lush cherry blossoms and tulips ruffling in the wind.
However, I have realized that the spring season isn't just about the weather. It's about a mindset. This may be because I'm one of those suckers that always gets pulled into the whole "New year, new me!" crap at the start of every year, but I'm realizing that that ideology can be applied to the season of spring as well. "Spring" in Portuguese is primavera, which comes from the Latin primus, meaning "first." But it's more like a second chance.
Spring cleaning is like a less-cliche version of "New year, new me." It makes more physical sense, because since summer is coming, it's nearing the time to open up the windows, air everything out, shake the dust up. But spring cleaning isn't limited to washing the windows and dusting off the ceiling fans. You can clean out your soul too.
We're a lot like flowers, if you think about it. Stick with me here, I know I'm getting a little hippie-dippie. But in the colder months, we bury ourselves under layers. We hide under the bulk. But when spring comes, our little buds start to blossom. Our skin reappears, as we start trading the oversized sweaters for t-shirts, skirts, dresses, shorts. The days are longer, the sun is brighter, we remember how it feels to scrunch our faces up to it and let it warm our backs.
Everything's more open, which gives us more space to think. We can start going on walks to the Esplanade, where we can sit on the dock with our toes curled towards the Charles River. We can shed our layers, not only the ones we wear, but the emotional ones we bear. Those can be just as heavy as an oversized sweater.
This quote comes to mind: “And the day came when the risk to remain closed in a bud became more painful that the risk it took to blossom.” That's what spring means to me. Airing out your emotional layers, doing spring cleaning for your soul. The best thing about the spring mindset is that you can take it on even with this white dust on the ground.
Soundtrack: The First Days of Spring by Noah And The Whale
