The need to breathe

We know we need to breathe.

But certain situations of which Covid would definitely qualify, can stop us from breathing easy.  

It may not even be apparent to us until the moment of the long exhale.  

I had this most delicious of experiences last Sunday whilst meandering through the rural lanes on my bike.  My eyes were feasting on the vast green spaces stretching out to either side along with the mass of blue sky ahead and beyond.  

It was delicious.

And then the sun broke through. I spontaneously turned my face towards this most welcome warmth, closed my eyes and relished the long exhale that accompanied the sensation.  I may even have made an ‘aahh’ type noise!

The long exhale!

In that moment of unexpected January warmth, my spirit soared at the reminder that Spring is coming.

Whilst I can hardly believe that a life that has become so much simpler and slower can continue to disappear at such speed, it does of course feel at times that things will never change.

Yet here was nature itself reminding me that this is not true!

During winter, I often find it really hard to imagine what it feels like to be out in the warmth of spring or summer without numerous layers of protective clothing.   Yet I know that I will experience that again.

Despite the damage that we are doing to our planet with its subsequent impact upon our weather, we still know that the Spring will follow the winter.

The signs of this happening this year are already here.

Only last week I was wondering when the daffodils would appear in the shops and then … de darn … there they were!  I immediately snapped up the last few bunches for myself and a neighbour.  And then someone else bought me a mixed colour bouquet of tulips.  Just beautiful!

A colleague sent the most stunning picture of the first snowdrops they had seen.  Wow!

I love these confirmations from nature; like little emails encouraging us not to despair, we’re working flat out behind the scenes to be with you before you know it!

I know that we know all this and we know all this happens year after year.  

But how much more poignant is it this year?  

Nature reminds us that whilst in the thick of winter with its signature short days and wet and wild weather, the preparations are under way for the longer, lighter days that accompany Spring.  

Having passed the shortest day a month ago, the days are already lengthening.

Yay!

We know that better times where we can actually be with one another will return and just as those first rays of the sun are so much more welcome following its absence, how much more will we feel this way when reunited with our fellow humans?!

But, just because we know that the storm, season and situation will change, does not mean we need to delay our willingness to really live each day, until it does.  

What a waste to postpone our ‘happiness’ until the arrival of a change we cannot cajole in to coming.

Each new day of this thing called life is a gift so fragile and fleeting we must seek its moments of wonder despite the suffering.

This morning dawned wet and wild, not that this stopped the wonderful chorus of chirping and cheeping outside my conservatory.  Yet now, the sky is brilliant blue with the sun shining free from the cover of clouds.

Things can change in an instant; for better or worse.

Whilst we do not have to spend the whole of winter worrying that spring will never come, nor must we spend the remainder of lockdown worrying that freedoms will never return.  

It will take time and there will be further cost and challenge, some known and others not.  

And yet, if we can trust that the change will come, we free ourselves to embrace the now.

To look for those people, places, things, activities and connections that offer us … the long exhale..