I’ve taken on this insane habit lately of waking up at 7:30 in the morning. This is nothing of my own accord — at least not entirely. No alarm is set for this absurd time of day when the nocturnal collegiate normally slumbers, but lately I have found myself awoken by the sun. My primal instincts respond in full-force to the glory of springtime sun after a vitamin C deficiency persisting since November, when the longest winter to date began. And most shocking of all, when I roll over to stare that sunrise right in the face, I realize that — much to my chagrin — I actually feel ready to wake up.
I stumble into the kitchen in a pair of pajamas so absurdly mismatched I am thankful no one but my roommates have the pleasure of witnessing them in all their glory. I step out on our balcony, stretch my sleepy muscles and enjoy the breeze that can only remind me of the best early summer mornings at my family’s shabby old river house. The morning is a precious time — one of the rare snippets of my day where I am not consciously keeping up with the running tab of to-dos for the day and the week and the rest of the year.
Those are my five minutes to feel completely at peace.
Similarly, spring is a bit of an alleviation of my stress. Some combination of the sunshine, the open windows, the influx of people spending time outside and the proximity of summer makes even the most stressful of finals preparations feel a bit less treacherous. Somewhere in my bones I can’t help but be thankful for the springtime.
This fact comes quite in handy when I look back on a personally and academically draining semester. January was part of this semester? Am I thinking of January this year or last year? Normally I round the corner toward April before I even realized I was running the race, but this go ‘round April could not have come any sooner. During the winter blues I felt it easy to dwell on the length of the day and the slow pace with which everything moved. But with spring upon us, I know that amid all of the impending work, there are so many people, places and wonderful things to be thankful for.
There is a push-pull conflict within me right now, with part of me wanting to focus on the wonderful people around me, while the other, more practical half of me wants the year to be over so tests, papers and word counts can stop hounding me. In my attempts to focus on the former stop-and-smell-the-roses approach, I have come to the realization that even amid the stress of these last few weeks, there is quite a bit to feel happy about.
There must be something besides just pollen in the air to make me feel this way. I believe the timing of spring is what allows it to carry so much joy. The limbo between nostalgia and anticipation for the summer prospects sandwiched between school years is a state in which people become naturally reflective, when rough patches seem to be forgotten, and when one can’t help but feel at least a little bit thankful and a little bit happy.
So I will take what I learn in those first few moments of each day and carry them with me throughout each proceeding hour. Nothing is better than being awoken by the sun.
Kate’s column runs biweekly Thursdays. She can be reached at k.colver@cavalierdaily.com.
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