WELCOMING SPRING AND THE OPPORTUNITY FOR GROWTH

“If flowers can teach themselves how to bloom after winter passes, so can you”

Technically, it’s spring in New York. But you could have fooled me. On the official ‘first day of spring’, I was walking around a snow covered Central Park. This being said, I witnessed the first buds of the year peeking through the fresh powder. And it gave me hope.

Spring is known for being the most enjoyable season to spend in New York. Being a spring baby, I have always been fond of this time of the year. The temperatures begin to rise, flowers are in full bloom providing splashes of color everywhere you turn, and the winter blues begin to dissolve away. If anything else, spring promises new growth.

Last year, nailing down seasons was a difficult task to accomplish. I began the year in London. Cold, grey, and did I mention cold?

As spring arrived in England, I visited the Scottish Highlands, of which were filled with even colder, greyer weather.

Immediately following my trip of earmuffs, heavy coats, and boots, I repacked my suitcase with bathing suits, sandals, and sunhats for my trip to Indonesia. The heat in Indonesia was almost unbearable in April.

I arrived back in London only to be welcomed by the cold and rain once again. I finished off the ‘summer’ in London with mild temperatures, which usually still required a jacket.

Then it was a few months enjoying a European summer that didn’t disappoint.

Finally we entered autumn and eventually winter in Eastern Europe where it was back to beanies and scarves.

By this time it was November, and what better way to throw your body off track once again than going to Australia in the heat of summer.

After a few weeks of sunbathing on a yacht down under, it was home to California. Which, contrary to popular belief, gets pretty damn chilly in December.

Let’s just summarize by saying my body was thoroughly confused last year.

Now I find myself in New York.

With the anticipation for an inevitable season on the horizon, I am looking forward to completely immersing myself into everything New York. I have no plans {as of yet} to travel outside of the city in the month of April. But let’s be honest, it is mainly because I have a visitor here in the city every single weekend of the month… Instead I hope to do some exploring in my own backyard.

I am going to use my host duties as an opportunity to explore more of Brooklyn. This will enlighten myself, and my guests, to the beauty of my sweet little {well, rather large} borough. I plan to catch a glimpse of the cherry blossoms blooming at the Botanical Gardens, attend Smorgasburg in Williamsburg routinely, bike along the Brooklyn Promenade, and embrace all things dedicated to spring.

Additionally, I hope to welcome the opportunity for personal growth along with a new season. In two months, my world has been turned upside down, leveled out, and once again tossed up into the cold, crisp New York air at a horrifying speed. Maybe this is what the mean by enjoy the ride, but I’ve never been a big fan of roller-coasters.

Regardless, I’m strapping myself in and holding on tight.

Things are changing in my life. And I can’t stop them or slow them down. So, instead of shielding myself to the oncoming changes {no matter how uncomfortable they may seem at the moment}, I choose to welcome them.

Because, ultimately change is inevitable.

I am all too familiar with blessings in disguise. And I truly believe that I have been granted heaps of them in my short lifetime. I now tend to view every unexpected event as a blessing in disguise. Maybe not at first, as my friends and family can vouch for within this last week {thanks for letting me vent ladies and gents, you are the real heroes}. But eventually I come around, and it doesn’t take me too long.

So, as fate would have it, with the first day of spring came new growth in both my own life, and within the walls of the concrete jungle.

As I mentioned previously in my post here, and another one here, this year is the year of me. I have taken steps in the right direction this year when it comes to relationships {both with others and myself}, my health, and most recently my ‘career’. I was recently offered a promotion at my company, and uncharacteristically, I made demands that I was not 100% confident that I deserved at the time. But after my demands were met, I realized that a workplace is just another instance to showcase my worth and value.

I believe in myself, and I always have. Sometimes you just have to ask, and see who else believes in you too.