Appreciation of the Seasons
Summer is slowly (who am I kidding, quickly) coming to an end, and we are all in a rush to make the most of the blue sky and heatwave that has come our way over the past couple of weeks. Living in Manchester, I am all too susceptible to assuming that when it rains here, it rains everywhere. Of course this is not the case, because I have spent the past five days at a festival in Hampshire, experiencing intense sunburn and sunshine from 7 am every morning.
Our weekend of music and festival fun began on Thursday, as we arose at 6am, ready for a peak-time train, full of all the tired and groggy looking, business suit wearing citizens of London, in hope we would miss the queues of the festival entry and walk straight on in. This evidently was not the case. We waited and waited, and as we waited, the sunburn on our skin appeared — every single one of us, even the most tanned of the group, so you can imagine how I looked; the fairest Irish blooded person alive.
Despite the initial set back to our weekend of sun, as well as the way it ended, which involved a three hour hike from the festival to the train station due to an unforeseen traffic crisis and a £70 train ticket, the feeling of the festival is still living on now I am back to reality. This is the first year of my life where I haven’t had the 6 week holidays of youth, and I understand at 22 I am still very much considered young, despite what my 10 year old sister likes to tell me, but the summer feels somewhat different without this break that has become ingrained in my memory as a definite, never ending part of life.
This is life now, and holidays are more appreciated than ever before. They are crucial too, and it is neither shameful nor weak to admit such a thing. We all need a break to peacefully enjoy the summer outside of the office for longer than a lunch break.
Everybody knows the feeling of coming home from a nice little break, it is nor sad or completely gleeful, more a feeling of rejuvenation. Whether it’s a festival, a holiday, a camping trip, a city break, you return home feeling the same way; like your energy has been boosted, like you have found yourself again, and you are reminded to appreciate all the things that you too often forget to in daily life.
This is the beauty of the outdoors. Summer may be coming to an end, but this feeling does not have to be strictly related to summer only. It’s the connotations of summer that we love more than the actual season itself. In hindsight, it’s probably constructed from the 6 weeks of holiday we all experienced as children. As adults, we can take weekend breaks at any time of the year, and we have the mind to appreciate the realness of the rain and the freedom of the sun.
So when autumn comes around in the next couple of months, remember to go out of your way to jump on that crunchy looking auburn leaf and don’t even hesitate to splash your way through every puddle in sight. Sometimes all it takes is a short break to make you realise that freedom and joy aren’t a car journey away, they are everywhere.
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