We are nearing that time of year when summer slowly collapses into autumn or spring blossoms into summer, reminding us that everything on this planet evolves and changes. This time of year can remind us of how good it can feel to embrace the newness of the next season, and how good it can feel to let go of the things that weigh us down.

The change of seasons can serve as a reminder that the more we hold on to the past, the more it keeps us from moving forward in our lives. We can use this time of year to remind ourselves that the past is just that: the past. We can use the past as a lesson; something to learn from. We do not have to view the past as a life sentence, something that weighs us down.

This time of year affords all of us an opportunity to think about what we want this next season to look, sound and feel like. This time of year affords us an opportunity to move closer toward our goals, closer to our values and closer to who we want to become.

One of the best things about the change of seasons, be it summer into fall or spring into summer, is that it allows us to learn about who we are becoming. The change of seasons affords us an opportunity to learn from the preceding months and apply what we have learned. We can use what we have learned about ourselves to move closer to who we want to become and how we want to evolve. After all, change is part of life … if we let it be.

We can go kicking and screaming into this next season of our lives or we can embrace the fact that change is part of life. Change can be beautiful, if only we embrace the new more than we hold onto the old. Each new season of our lives can serve as a lesson, offering us information about where we are headed and where we want to go. There is beauty in each season of life, and while we may have to look harder for it during some seasons, it is there. We can embrace the fact that each season is beautiful in its own right or we can choose to lament a season’s end. When we choose to see the beauty in each new season, it can make this transition easier for us to accept.

What steps can you take to embrace change, the change of the seasons and change happening in your life right now? How can you embrace the new and let go of the old? What may be weighing you down that you can move away from?

~ Karri Christiansen, MSW, LSW, CADC, CCTP