The Springtime of Our Lives
Or Life As Four Seasons
I like Spring, though my favorite season is Autumn. In the Spring, the dormant life Winter hides returns anew in fresh waves of green and blooming flowers. Trees regenerate and life emerges from the doldrums of cold, impersonal hibernation.
In talking with a good friend of mine, he illustrated that life is like a seasonal cycle if you were to break it down into quarters. For the sake of this essay, let’s say we get around 80 years (the average life expectancy is about 74, so I’ll round up for ease of math, giving us all the benefit of the doubt), and that means that each Season of our life equates to 20 years. That can also equal four generations, but these often overlap.
By my friend’s comparison, a person lives their first 20 years in Spring. This is an apt allegory. Spring symbolizes new growth. In nature, many animals birth and raise new offspring which must learn the ways of the world in order to survive on their own. They can’t do this without assistance and often the strength of the flock, pack, etc., guides their development. So, too, is this true for humans.
We are born and, like foals, live shaky and unsteady for the first part of our lives and grow through adolescence into young adults. This is indeed a period of discovery and we are young, impetuous, and in the prime of our lives in both energy and health. The trait we lack in abundance is wisdom, which you acquire through experience.
You get good wisdom through bad experiences, to paraphrase Simon Bolivar Buckley. We carry on in blissful ignorance convinced of our immortality.
The next 20 years is Summer. Somehow we have survived Spring and, with cautious optimism, we live our next two decades still convinced of our youth, but recognize we are not invincible. Still, we take risks, some of them financial, some of them personal, but we temper them with our burgeoning experience, if only to fail, learn, and try again.
This is a period of guarded optimism for we know the pain of bad decisions and actions (even if, looking back on them, their outcomes were indeed fun!) and we proceed with caution. This pairing of decades is also where many of life’s biggest decisions are made in that we marry, have children, look to the future, invest, and attempt to wrestle a comfortable existence of our own design. We utilize the ebbing youth of Spring as fuel for the next phase of life.
Please consider becoming a paid subscriber. It’s $2 a week—less than a beer when you go out and perhaps as satisfying without the caloric deficit—and $80 annually. It really helps me as a writer, and you’ll receive access to exclusive content including advanced project previews and releases. Thanks!
Autumn is where I currently reside. I’m halfway through this season, one where there are still pleasant, warm days, and comfortable rainy ones, too. Not too hot or cold. Perfect. Or is it? This is a tricky life season because it can lull one into a false sense of security. If you’re fortunate, you’ve done well, worked a job you like, have a compliment of reliable friends, and are preparing for the back side of Autumn to enjoy your retirement. But that isn’t always the case.
What remains of our youth is consumed with nagging pains which lead to injury. Frivolous pursuits can create catastrophes. We go through mid-life crises, wondering what we missed, determined not to miss anything else. We may find ourselves divorced. Friends and family die off at an alarming rate. However, Autumn is still vibrant and interesting, even if we’ve seen parts of it before.
This period of life is about reflection and consideration. Maybe we make that phone call or send a heartfelt email to make amends. Then we take stock of what time remains and seek to make the most of it. We set out to recapture what we enjoy. We each have a favorite spot, hike, or pastime—our ‘thing’. Use that metaphor as you will.
Winter. I’m not there yet, but, winter is coming (see what I did there?) and it’s unavoidable. Are you prepared to weather the long nights and short days? Cold, dreary skies full of wintry mix. Bitter winds that one must guard against. It makes one shiver thinking about it. It’s a wonder we go into it with any positivity. But Winter isn’t all bad.
I love a snowy day, even more so spent on a ski slope carving through champagne powder under sunlit, cloudless, cobalt blue skies. Time spent by a fire with a drink and good conversation with friends. The ability to impart wisdom to those in earlier Seasons of life than our own, hopefully without pedantry or arrogance.
A long winter can make you hard, angry, resentful. Your health and elasticity ebb. Replacement parts may be necessary. But, it beats the alternative, and one becomes grateful in unexpected ways. A kind word. Old friends and a faithful spouse. Families gathered together in multigenerational camaraderie. What is old is new again and enduring friendships strengthen. Winter provides hope for the future.
With any luck, you’ll live through Winter to gain another Spring. Gone may be your youth, but you’ll have so much wisdom to take another crack at life. In that regard, life distillates into what is really important and fine wine and good food take on a new primacy. You’re also unencumbered by what people think of you or your weight. You can say whatever you want without consequence. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.
We have this life to live. We do this annually with each year ticking by in a 12-month blip that feels sometimes like a slog, and in turn, with each Season of our life we live another generation.
I recommend that one live according to their desires and perhaps with moderation, but you will only get one shot at this. Take the chance at any age.
Ask her out; buy the horse; start a business; go on that trip. As someone who’s made it to Autumn, I can confidently say Winter is around the corner, however it manifests.
May we all make it to Spring.
