A few months ago, before the summer weather really took over, I had a work training with an Arizona-based facilitator. She said that it was 60 degrees that morning and that it had been so nice and cool. She was loving being able to get outside in the “cooler temperatures.”
Being that we were still on the edge of new-Spring, I had also recently experienced a 60 degree morning. Whereas this facilitator saw it was a chilly reprieve, I saw it as a balmy excuse to leave my jacket on the coat rack.
The facilitator said it had been 99 degrees the day before.
I suppose this happens at every changing season. If you live in the same spot year round and if that spot is one with 4 distinct seasons, you can likely attest to 60 degrees feeling different in March than it does in October. In 60 degree March weather, I am thrilled to shed scarves and walk to the grocery store in a t-shirt. In 60 degree October weather, I have hot chocolate on the ready and am already making a list of scary movies to watch under piles of fuzzy blankets.
There is something to craving that which has been taken away. Winter, with its slushy boots and early evenings, can feel taxing. It is easy to long for the warm summer nights on someone’s roof, a cold drink in hand, an unopened library book. Conversely, summer, with its unforgiving heat and the pressure to “make the most of it,” can feel daunting. It is easy to long for the nesting periods of quiet, bulky sweaters and holiday traditions.
About a week ago, coming back from a sweaty heat-of-the-day run, I joked with my neighbor that I am not built for summer. But will I not be the person, come December, cursing the early sunset?
Perhaps there is something to weather perspective. Knowing that it will change. Knowing that the cold won’t last forever. Knowing that the heat won’t either. Perhaps the best thing to do is appreciate the season we are in. To know that wishing it away is no better than cursing it, that looking toward something with envy only steals what is in front of you.
If we are constantly comparing today’s weather to our favorite, we will never be satisfied. But if we can view today’s weather with appreciation for what it is, if we can lean into the uniqueness of what today’s weather allows us to do, wear, be, if we can work with Mother Nature rather than against… then we just might set ourselves up for the perfect season.

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