Happy November!
This morning on my walk I ran into a couple of friends. We visited for a few minutes and one of them mentioned that yesterday seemed like a very long day. Like most of the country, we in the Pacific Northwest moved from daylight savings time to standard yesterday. It gets light an hour earlier in the morning and gets dark an hour earlier in the afternoon. After we chatted a few minutes one friend mentioned that she wasn’t looking forward to this afternoon either because it will get dark so early.
There are some things I am also dreading this year. With COVID-19 restrictions and the election, where things have been so contentious, I am afraid that I might feel a little depressed and out of sync this fall. Things that I am used to enjoying every year aren’t happening this year. Knowing that I might be feeling a little down this fall, yesterday when the time changed I reset the timer that controls the lights on my deck. Several years ago we attached 4 strings of large bulb lights under the roof of our deck because they look magical to me and I love seeing them. We put the lights on a timer after I got tired of turning them on every night. Yesterday afternoon, I moved the timer to 5 pm, which is right after sunset. I can see my deck from my kitchen table and from the living room, and if I press my face against the window while looking right, I can also see the deck lights from my bedroom. Every evening when they turn on I say, “Oh look, it’s magic!” I did this because I wanted to balance the early dark evenings that sometimes feel a little depressing, with a little magic.
I can’t change the time it gets dark every evening, I can’t change COVID-19 and I can’t change politics or political unrest, but I can put a little light and magic into my life each evening at 5 pm. That is something that I can control.
Is it possible for you to look around your house and choose one thing that brings light and joy into your life, and then make it happen automatically? It can be something small and simple like a string of lights on a timer or simmering spices on the stove. It doesn’t have to be complicated. It just might change feelings of dread into feelings of anticipation and joy. This year I would consider that a win!
What about you?
