If it's not Raining, Don't Wear Rain Boots

Colorado is dry. My hair looks different, my skin feels ashy, and my lips get chapped so badly during ski season that I feel the constant need for Burt's Bees. I've never struggled with the change in elevation in any other way. I don't get altitude sickness or have trouble breathing, but it's always dry. The funny thing is, I've also gotten used to it. When I remember, I'll put on more lotion or buy products that say "moisturizing" in the tag line, but mostly, I just cope. Two days ago, however, it began raining. Pouring rain, in fact, and it's stayed stormy and (somewhat) humid since then. After spending 22 years in the south, the rain makes me a little bit homesick for the days where you could literally smell the beginning of spring.

Different seasons have a way of reminding me about the seasons in my own life and how rapidly things can change. As I donned my rain boots for the first time in nearly a year, I realized how much something as simple as a rainstorm can show me how dehydrated I feel, literally and figuratively. I haven't really learned to adapt to the change in climate, I've just hoped that my current habits will do. I've entered this new, dry arena, but I haven't done a single thing to settle in, so things often go untended and unwatered.

You can't avoid your season

I love the quote by Tyler Ward in his book Marriage Rebranded. He said, "If we look in the mirror and see that our shirt is wrinkled, we don't iron the mirror. No, we iron our shirt." It takes a lot to adjust to a new season and get settled into a routine where we have time to both fill ourselves up and fill up those around us. I had my routine down to a tee in Nashville, and since I moved here, I've been hoping and wishing that the world around me would adjust to the habits I'd already set in place. In essence, I've been trying to iron the mirror and fit the outside world into my mold.

We don't wear snow boots in 80 degree weather for a reason, and we would find it ridiculous if someone did so. However, that's a pretty good image of what resisting change looks like. When we want something to change in our lives and are tired of our current season, we begin wishing and hoping for a new one. Maybe you're tired of being single and feel ready to get married, or maybe your job is draining the life out of you, so you start willing your circumstances to change instead of investing in the season you're in. But, this is about as futile as trying to change the weather just by wearing a different outfit. Your actions don't have any power, and your resistance will leave your overheated and uncomfortable.

if you're ironing the mirror

There's only one solution to coping with a new season of change: dress appropriately. If it's sunny, put on sunscreen. If it's snowy, bundle up. If it's not raining, don't wear rain boots. There are plenty of scenarios in our lives that we can impact through our actions, but usually large seasons of change are not one of them. Old habits might not fit your new landscape, so adjust as needed. If you're going through a storm, hunker down and shift your perspective to one of adaptation instead of resistance.