Change...Or Be Scratched

Spring really has a tendency to send me a wake-up call. “What have you been doing all winter,’’ it yells as the temperature rises and the light in the sky seems so different. Brighter than even those snow-covered landscapes of just a few weeks ago.

It reminds me of how difficult it is to change from the recent past to my present existence, to transition from winter to spring. Adjusting the way I live and the types of activities that I enjoy is bothered by the change from fall to winter, but getting back into the swing of things is also hard when you say bye to winter. There are few constants that are able to be maintained in the different seasons. Work still is there. They continue to shovel the walks and drives of my office where I work and the roads to get there continue to be plowed. Sigh! I can still get in my runs with my wife but the places we run are just not as enjoyable. And they are slippery. And I even fall. But I’ve fallen even in nice weather.

The real problem for me is that I realize that it is the difficulty that change brings to life that is the true obstacle. Dean Ornish said, “People don’t resist change, they resist being changed.” So, I resist the fact that Mother Nature tries to change me. She makes me wear layers of clothes when shorts and a t-shirt are my style. She makes me give up wooded trails and warm streams because the frosty wench throws cold and snow and ice everywhere in Michigan. She makes me mope and read too much in the winter. It makes me ponder on little things and great mysteries. Food starts to be too much of a friend…Ahh, a best friend during dark winter days. Yes, dark are the days of winter.

And the tasks that have carried over from the fall, I had almost forgotten until I start looking around now that there is light after dinner outside. Weeds, tree branches, burlap on shrubs, tarps on things, lawn furniture in rafters, leaves against fences. I swear that this is a truthful list of the tools that I used this weekend alone: sledgehammer, shovel, rake, floor jack, screwdrivers, wrenches, sockets, wire cutters, leaf blower, wheel barrel, etc., etc., etc. I was just flat out lazy in the winter. It was like I was under the influence of a depressent drug prescribed by cold temperatures.

So I have thought up a mission statement for dealing with change. Here it is: “Life can change on a dime so I will always try to carry some spare coins in my pockets.” Those coins are going to be lots of things. They will include new ideas, old ideas that were good but not used, smiles and hugs, kind words, being a friend and better listener, and sunscreen to name a few. These attitudes will help me deal better with change so I don’t go through life learning my lessons like Mark Twain said: “The man who carries a cat by the tail learns something that can be learned in no other way.”

I’m tired of life’s scratches.