The summer heat seems to affect some spirits these days. Short-fused tempers manifest, or some minds are so focused on an end goal that they forget to check (“enjoy” just sounds unreal sometimes…) the scenery and see what is happening around, and available. Ignoring what the world is up to, with its good, its less good and its very good, is ostracising, at a minimum. While chatting with a friend recently, I heard “HE has changed, I have not”: talk about (in)direct isolation here. Maybe each has evolved and taken different paths, taking the past for granted, not thinking twice and projecting in the future forgetting to check what the present looks like.

Sounds silly? And typical? I sure hope not. Typical, ok, maybe, sometimes. Falling back into a similar situation, and ranting because “it is always the same regardless of the people I deal with” definitely causes some stress. And it is not happening to women only. Hoping that things will change when I do the same things over and over has a name: it is called insanity. Tried that: not fun, and frustrating. Mind you, realising that what I was repeating, expecting different results, after the fact, was likely the most frustrating part of it all. So, which air is it that change occurs?

Good news: it is everywhere, and every day. It only depends on what intention I put into it, and how I get distracted by my environment: the same one that teaches me to breathe and bend my knees, only to be as ready as possible to bounce back. Knowing, and deciding about, when to take a step back and reflect on shifts that make sense to the pursuit of a plan, a project or a dream, looks more like an art than a science: very subjective, indeed.

So, there it is: summer, or winter in the other hemisphere. And evolution, even progress in some instances, gets to show up at my door (admittedly, I would have pushed and worked on it for the most part, but still!). Stepping up to my plate, embracing who I have become, and who I am becoming, I look back at that path I have taken, a path I had no idea of when I took my first step. My intentions have grown along with my patience. Some doors are open, some I will work on opening them. Ready for the next chapter!

Photo credit © OFL – “Darling, Western Cape”