Sunday, November 3, 2013

Life begun anew


Fall is a season of change. The winds shift, the weather turns colder, the days become shorter, and the leaves show one last burst of brilliant color. I have witnessed this yearly cycle many times, but this year the changing of the seasons has taken on a whole new meaning for me.  Maybe it’s because I am changing too. 

Since graduating from college five months ago, I have found myself in what seems to be a constant state of change. Sure, things changed while I was in college. I found different classes, different friends, different passions and perspectives. But in the midst of those changes, there was still a cocoon of familiarity in which I could envelop myself. I knew the buildings on campus, the names of my professors, and what it would take to finally experience the weight of a college diploma—surprisingly light for the cost—in my hand. So while things certainly changed during those four years, I was able to take refuge in the things I had come to know and expect. I was a glittering elm at peak season, preparing for the imminent, inevitable change and trying to avoid it at the same time.

One of the most intriguing things about change is the way in which it comes...slowly, and then all at once. One day you're basking in the warmth of the late afternoon sun and the next you're digging out your winter coat. If 22 years in the Midwest taught me anything about meteorology (and life in general), it's that those initial winds are brutal. In the months since graduation, I have moved to two different states, found my first post grad job, left my first post grad job, and watched the winds of change sweep far and wide. Like the elm tree outside my window, I have seen my leavesthe once-familiar things in which I found refuge—fading and drifting away. But even as this season strips me bare, it brings with it a sense of empowerment. In the midst of the unfamiliar, the scary, the new, I find something as unexpected as it is powerful: the arrival of a new season and new beginnings. I find the heady joy of life begun anew.  

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