Winter Into Spring
Shresta Nibhanupudi (she/her)
Editorial Team Member
“Summer or winter” is a typical icebreaker in the beginning of school. It’s never “spring or fall.” Spring and fall are two seasons that are consistently forgotten about. There’s even a song by Lizzy Mcalpine that includes the lyrics “Spring into summer and the winter’s gone,” the song title is literally Spring Into Summer and yet spring still continues to be overlooked, being sandwiched between summer and winter. Summer and winter are the harsh seasons, their effects are known, and they are commonly received as the most romantic or loveable seasons. Winter has snow, and summer has warmth. But what they don’t have is moderation, but people don’t want moderation, they want excitement. And that’s exactly what summer and winter provide. Though this may seem like a typical season preference, it’s indicative of romantic preferences.
People want a storm. Especially recently, with social media, the need for instant gratification or serotonin leads to society needing excitement constantly. Constantly wanting excitement is not inherently bad. However, I truly believe that when it comes to love, people only look for it in exciting ways. There’s a popular notion that love has to be exciting, and it has to be one of a kind, and it has to be new everyday. Love has to mean struggle, and it has to be harsh and all consuming. But I think love presents itself in ways everyday. In my world, love means showing up; it means consistency and warmth. It means that love is part of every action I do for another person. People who only want all-consuming love tend to look over love that isn’t romantic. For me, most of my love goes towards unromantic places. I get so much love from my family, and give back so much, but it isn’t exciting. In fact, the love I feel with my family is so normal that it’s boring. And love should be easy; it shouldn’t be a difficult feeling to gripe with, it should come easily.
Leading back to the seasons, it only seems possible that people can truly love summer and winter, and only like spring and fall. But I love spring and fall; the tennis season, and the weather that isn’t too warm or too hot. Winter and summer have their merits. Winter has snow, but snow also causes car accidents and traffic slowdowns. Summer has warmth, which also means sunstroke and sunburn. My point is, extreme love also comes with potential harms. I don’t mean to say that love shouldn’t be exciting, I’m just saying to appreciate gentle love that shows up every day. My personal favorite season is spring because the transition from winter to spring teaches me to be happy for every day of warmth.
