Positive Spins

Technically, it’s spring, my favorite season. I love watching the dirty icebergs of snow disappear, smelling fresh rain drops brewing in the clouds, and seeing soft blades of green popping up and taking over the ground’s brown, prickly blanket.

It was supposed to come here a week ago, however, as white puffs cloud my vision outside, I have come to the conclusion that spring is extinct.

Besides taking a shot in the dark (or white, I guess) as to where I’m going when I drive, my favorite part about today’s blizzard was having to put the hood of my sweatshirt over the bun on my head. I walked across campus looking like a mutant dinosaur in Ugg boots. Cute.

And now that I’m done complaining, let me reveal the silver lining of this long winter (and also life’s metaphorical winters).

Bad things force you to find the good in your life.

Unless you want to go crazy from being annoyed by the winter that can’t take a hint about leaving, you have to find little things in your life to build up your happiness. For example, today one of the little girls I nanny for said, “Ronnie? Actually winter’s kind of pretty. Snow is sparkly!” Winter’s been here for so long that I’ve forgotten to really look that there truly is beauty in it.

Also, I’ve noticed that I’ve been appreciating the people in my life more and more lately. The love, support, and happiness they bring me are better than even the earliest spring!

I’ve even started re-noticing little things, like the fun paintings I have hung in my room, that I have enough clothes to not do laundry for a month, and the immense amount of books I have waiting to be read on my bookshelf and kindle.

When something is frustrating and won’t seem to go away, sometimes all that’s left is the little things. And then when you start noticing those things, you start appreciating them again, and when you appreciate them you realize they are actually the big things.

When things are going well, it’s natural to start taking everything for granted. But after a storm is over, you appreciate what you once forgot to even notice. I know that this long winter will lessen the amount of “It’s too hot!” complaints this summer!

I know I didn’t perfectly articulate the message I wanted to get across in this, but let me sum it up by saying this:

Every cloud has a silver lining. And if you look closely enough, that silver lining has little specks of glitter that will rain down on you if you just take the time to notice them. Even in the worst storm, we can still find some glitter in our hair at the end of the day. J Xo <3