What to Consider When Considering Spring

Spring is here! 🙂

And spring brings a lot of… well, everything. 🙂
Nature wakes from its deep winter sleep; some animals do too, and so do we.

The thing about spring is that even though it symbolizes awakening and new beginnings, even though the weather becomes warmer, and the sun brings us joy, even though nature is in bloom and flowers make us happy, it also brings a lot of messiness. Many people have a hard time dealing with spring. There are allergies, there are weather and temperature differences from day to day, even hour to hour. Our hormones pick up on the nature changes, so they go a little crazy too; after all, we are a part of nature, and as nature moves, we move. We feel changes in our bodies, our minds, our mood changes and so on. Many ups and downs come with spring, so not everyone embraces it.

One thing I hear from most people is that they’re tired in spring, they feel a lack of energy, and they want to sleep all the time. This is usually a normal reaction to weather changes (but if you feel like it’s too much to handle, do not hesitate to contact your physician), and it passes as spring does. But how to deal while it’s here?

I try to change my routine a little in spring. It is somewhat more difficult to get up in the morning, I won’t lie, and it is more difficult not to fall asleep in the afternoon, but I manage, most of the time at least. 🙂 Those of you who love your afternoon naps, please, do enjoy them. I don’t like them; they make me drowsy, and I cannot sleep at night, no matter how long or short they are, so I stay away from naps. What I do is try to make good out of every sunny morning and sunny afternoon. I am a morning person. I love, love, love me sunny mornings. (I love them rainy too, but I much rather spend those in bed :)) I get up as early as possible, which usually means I get up with the sun, and that means I have enough time to take it slow. I move around the house a bit, let some fresh air inside, I feed my animals, I do some yoga, I feed myself, I take my vitamins, I clean up around the house, do a little prepping for the spring blooms, which gives me an excuse to spend some time on the balcony or the garden, (depending of course, on how cold the morning is, because it still gets pretty freaking cold in the spring mornings), I write, take my dog to the park, I bother my husband to join me for a walk, I make lunch, I bother him for a walk again and so on. 🙂

The point is that I try to do both what I like and what is good for me, even when I’m not in the mood. I love wintertime laziness; I do. I wallow in it, and I enjoy it, I use it to the max, but when the spring comes, time for change comes with. So, I try to eat better, move more, and spend as much time outside (especially in nature) as possible, and that way, spring moodiness and everything that comes with it is easier to handle.
I know it is not the same for everyone, it is much harder for some people, but being good to ourselves, taking care of our body and our mind is the best thing we can do. This, of course, is something we should always do, but especially in this time of change.
We need to detox from the heavy food we ate during holidays and continued after, from the many, many yummy sweets, from too much time indoors and the stale air, from too much family time (yes, that’s a thing too and it doesn’t mean we don’t like to share our time with those we love the most, but holidays can be hard with all the cooking and the cleaning and socializing and it’s ok to need and have a little break 🙂 ), and so on.

We need to rejuvenate our body, our skin, our mind; we need to breathe fully and completely; we need to be free and fly.

So, as always, find what is best for you and do what is best for you. Do what you need to feel better and be happy. 🙂

Do not let whatever bump gets in your way get you down; do not let those downs be bigger than ups, and do not let them overwhelm you.
Look around, spring is beautiful, so many new colors, so many shades of green, bird’s song everywhere you go, light breeze on your face, sun on your skin, even the spring rain feels good.

Spring keeps us moving, so let’s move in the best possible direction, towards a better us, healthier us, happier us. Let’s bloom. 🙂

The first blooms of spring always make my heart sing.

– S. Brown