It's Fall, ladies and gentlemen! I love fall. I love the colors. The smells. The general energy of people is just refreshing. It's that in-between season that everybody loves. They get to change  their wardrobe up a bit, Pumpkin Spice Lattes come out (That, alone, would be a good enough reason to call Fall my favorite season), the leaves change but the grass is still green. I feel like there's so much packed into this short (very short in Colorado) season!
      I'm currently at my office, looking out the window and there are 4 trees I can see from my seat that are all changing. But they aren't all changing the same. They aren't even changing in a similar cycle! One of them is small. The green leaves on it are randomly changing into a sunshine yellow. And then to my right, an even smaller tree. It's forest-green leaves are changing to a deep orange-red- but only on the right side. Primarily where the sun hits it. Then we have the littlest tree in the distance. It's turned to a beautiful honey-yellow with just one or two orange leaves.
      Then we have my favorite. The maple. A beautiful big tree with deep red leaves. It was the first to change. It's also the fullest tree. It just simply brings me happiness. I'm constantly hearing people complain about the fact that the days are growing shorter, it's colder, it's gonna be "ugly" all the time. Though some of those are legitimate, let's think about all the wonderful things that come from fall! For instance, no more dry-hot days that spark fires. The excitement of snowy days and making chocolate chip cookies whilst drinking cocoa. The movie White Christmas. The changing of the leaves! The opportunity to wear navy on your nails. Happy happy! Scarves. Mittens. Coziness. I LOVE FALL. There's really nothing deep about this blog. Just remember that there is beauty in every season. No matter what negativities may loom- there's still color in the leaves or crisp snow on the ground. It's easy to look past the cold when you can see those things. And \another thing- Seasons are really wonderful when they're time comes and goes as planned. It's when those seasons drag on that it gets annoying. Kind of like life, yeah? We love the changes until we're used to it. So let's just learn to enjoy it. Find the beauty in every time and you will NEVER dislike a season. 

Enjoy this!

XOXO

From walls to water

Highs and lows. Friendships and work. Family. Balance. Confusing? YES.

I am sitting in my room alone. For the first time in over a week. I'm alone. I've been running with my friends or I've been working. I'm out till I fall asleep and then wake to work again. It's a mixture of liberation and exhaustion. I'm not quite sure how to deal with it yet. I find myself sad when I'm alone. Also confused when I'm accompanied. Companionship, I'm learning, is a chore as well as a blessing. I read my Bible today, for the first time since returning from Australia. The first verse I read was about God tearing down walls. Grinding them to ash at our knees. I've never been one to have good, honest relationships. They haven't been bad, but neither have they been fruitful. The have simply "been". Why? Walls. I've have put up so many walls that I've created a room. A happy little room where inside it dwells only things I allow and recognize as "good". What a very sad thing it is. What a boring, white and sterile little room. God said he will tear down the walls and they will become ashes.  And I think of this quote;

"There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect."

~Ronald Reagan 

 I also always think of the lotus flower (I know, a tad cliche- Bare with me) The whole excitement over the lotus flower is that it blooms in mud. It's regarded as mystical. It's roots begin in the mud, then slowly it pushes it's way out of the mud and through the water where it blooms in the warm sunshine. That, in my opinion, is how a good, lasting relationship should look. It's starts off a tad rocky, you can't see where you're going. You may not know if you're even growing upwards. But at some point you figure out the sunshine is, indeed, in front of you and you need only push a little further. Then you reach the sunshine. The warm and nutrient sunshine. Then your relationship blossoms.

Now translate that over to a personal level. I, personally, have been through mud this last year. It's only been in the last month or so that I've entered the "water" stage. That's a purifying stage, I think. And I'm still in that. But I'm hoping that very soon, I will propel towards the sunlight. I see rays here and there. But it's fleeting. I want the full-blown heat of the sun. I want to blossom and bloom into the person I was created to be. I want my friendships to bloom in a way that they've never bloomed before. 

The other stellar thing about the lotus flower? It has the potential to overrun it's aquatic environment. Like a boss. Once it reaches the sun, it just soars. It spreads all it's little seeds and they all grow and flourish and soon enough, what once was a muddy lake is covered with beautiful big flowers....Alright. Bring it on. I'm ready. I'm ready for relationships that are real. Raw and difficult. But out of that comes beauty. Out of the mud comes the blossom. That'll be me one day. And I really can't wait. 

The walls we build around us to keep sadness out also keeps out the joy.

~Jim Rohn