When does one year end and another year begin?

Some people might say 31 December and 1 January are the beginning and the end of the year. Others might say the Winter solstice or maybe it's Spring when the leaves start breaking from the trees and the first buds of the snowdrops appear?

For me however the Autumn is the end of one year and a beginning of the next.

As the year turns, the leaves start to drop, and it appears that everything comes to a stop.

To the casual observer it may appear the trees have gone to sleep and that everything is dead. In fact everything is just beginning again.

The leaves that have been dropped by the trees start to breakdown through the action of the bacteria and become food for the trees and the plants. The trees themselves form their new buds in the Autumn, rolled tight and ready for the spring. Deep beneath the earth the Spring bulbs start to stir and send out new roots and form new shoots which will start to push through the soil, ready to appear when the weather becomes milder.

As we pass through Winter it is easy to look and think that everything is dead or asleep as we cannot see what is beneath the surface but we would be wrong.

To me depression feels like Winter, everything seems grey or dead and I can't do anything but rest. But I have to trust that, like Winter, things are changing though I may not be aware of them and that spring will come back in to my life. Nothing ever stays the same, all things change, but like the arrival of Spring, change does not always have to be bad.

Penelope

A Moodscope member.