Seasons change and so do the months. It seems to be that there really are no constants in life, which is a good thing when you really think about it. We don’t want things to be static; we want them to be dynamic in more ways than one. I don’t know what it is for me, but as I age (I know 26 is not much of an age) I realize that time goes faster and faster. However because of all the things that I buy myself with I am okay with this factor. The fact that May is upon us tomorrow is just crazy to me though I am looking forward to summer months for some much needed vacation time off and a way to get refreshed and renewed for another school year.
May is my birthday month. May babies are pretty special if you ask me. As someone that shares a birthday with the late Pope John Paul II, I know that May birthdays are special. I’m turning 27 this month…well, tomorrow’s month, but if there is one thing about my age that surprises me, it is that I look at the 27 years I have been on this earth and I wonder where they went.
I am a person that often reflects on how past events went in my life. Not just good, but also bad. I reflect on what could have gone better or what went the best that it could. I look to the future to think about all the neat things that could happen in my life, and I try my hardest not to let things bother me ever, but they do. Sometimes they bother me a lot. But you know what, that’s okay. Acknowledgement of these anxieties and working through them is half the battle of becoming a stronger person I believe.
Have you ever heard of being mindful? Not in the sense of just thinking about things in general but mindfulness as a practice? Recently in my new found habits as of lately I have really been trying to concentrate on mindfulness and think about the present. Reflection is good, don’t get me wrong, but mindfulness really helps you to focus on what is good now, not before, not after, but now. I went for a walk tonight and I really took in the trail and all of nature’s glory even though the pollen count was a little too high for my nose to fully appreciate what I was smelling. Life was truly blissful for the time that I completely focused on what was happening around me and not what I needed to be doing at home or this week.
I am not cheery all the time, nor do I really want to be. I know that may come as a shock to some, but I also know that anxiety is a normal part of life. I have had panic attacks, and I don’t wish that on anyone because they are truly the epitome of scary. However small anxieties keep us on our toes. There are some unwanted anxieties that really keep us on our toes too. Those are the ones that we don’t want but they happen anyway.
May is a time for spring to really blossom. A time for everything to come out of its hiding from winter and begin to explore the world around it. Weather gets nicer, flowers and trees bloom, and we get more of a dose of Vitamin D in PA than we have had since August. Did I mention May is my birthday month and that it is a pretty cool month? Did I mention that I’m okay with turning 27 because it means new opportunities and more chances to improve myself?
Do we treat everyday like it’s May? Do we come out of hiding and enjoy what is around us? Do we allow ourselves to bloom and thrive even though we may have suffered a theoretical winter? It’s really not the type of storm we weather, it’s how we weather it.