Care for a refreshment?

Ah, Spring.

(Insert elongated sighs here)

The time of bright pastels, brand new scents, and bustling ideas. The trees slowly thaw off the past and prepare themselves for the comforting warmth of what's to come. We trade in our boots for flats and our earmuffs for sunglasses; boys trade in their pullovers for those hard-to-resist colorful polos. How is this not considered the most wonderful time of the year?

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve started thinking more and more about this beautiful season. Spring break has only just ended. As I was finally getting myself to unpack (3 days after I had gotten back home of course), I couldn’t help but think about just how important the transitory period of spring is. It’s like a bedazzled link between the charm of winter and the charm of summer. On one end, you are introduced to the hotter weather, lazier afternoons, and the carefree-ness of it all. On the other hand, you are reminded of just how much you really need to get on those resolutions you made back in January. At least, that’s the case for me.

Upon coming back, motivation came knocking on my dorm-room door. Over the break I thought of how great the bikini I was carefully tying on would look with a tougher work out in preparation for summer. I thought of how I wanted to take up meditation, how I wanted to take the dreams I think about and make them bloom like the tulips I wish I had next to my residence hall.  In a way, spring is a refresher. It brings back the memories of the cold as it paves the way for the warm, summer heat. Many come back complaining about how short the break actually was—admit it, it's true. One week is simply not enough to attain that long-lasting tan you wanted or get through that long list of high school friends you were hoping to meet up with. However, this one week was enough for me to reflect and rejuvenate. It made me rethink my lifestyle choices as I carved out new goals for the remainder of the semester. It jogged my brain for thoughts of what do I really want and how exactly am I going to get there? It makes you rethink that triple-shot mocha, the morning laziness, and the constant procrastination and it reminds you that you actually have things on the to-do list in need of crossing out. You have a clearer and closer end-goal in mind. You have a better image now that you’ve gotten a taste for vacation, new found refreshment for the upcoming weeks, and if you’re lucky, a sense of hope that those far-off goals are really just achievements-to-be in need of shedding their thick, winter layer.

Happy shedding, everyone!

Ale