My favorite time of the year is the time period in between late fall and early winter.
I specifically love that glorious month-long time period between Thanksgiving and Christmas when everything in the world seems magical and most people are filled with good spirits for the holiday season.
My second favorite time of the year is right now. The changing leaves paired with the crisp chilly air create the perfect fall feeling.
It’s the type of weather that makes everyone want to embrace their inner basic girl by indulging in all the stereotypical fall activities like pumpkin carving, scary movie marathons and cuddling up in front of a campfire.
And of course, we can’t deny ourselves the ultimate stereotypical fall staple – pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks.
Prior to Monday and Tuesday, I hadn’t really felt that fall feeling yet though.
The leaves on the trees were changing color, but the weather in general hadn’t been particularly crisp or cozy.
Believe what you want about global warming, but you can’t deny that Erie has been abnormally warm this month.
This warmer than anticipated weather has made it hard to enjoy the best things about fall including the hot beverages, cozy sweaters and the desire to be all cuddled up inside all day.
Perhaps my lack of enthusiasm for this fall isn’t all due to the presence of hot temperatures and a lack of coziness, though.
For me, fall is kind of like a state of mind.
It’s that satisfying feeling of starting up a new academic school year, falling into a post-summer routine and finding a new groove that will translate for the rest of the semester.
It’s reuniting with college friends, settling into a normal social pattern and becoming comfortable with the changes that occurred over the summer.
I think that fall hasn’t felt like fall yet to me because I haven’t really adapted to the changes I faced over the summer – and I faced a lot of them.
This summer threw a lot at me that I wasn’t expecting, forcing me to make a lot of major adjustments and do a lot of growing up.
While I’ve had a couple months to get used to these changes, I still don’t think that everything has settled in completely, and it probably won’t for quite a bit more time.
It’s still weird to me that I’m living off campus, and it’s still very weird that the place I’m living in is a funeral home.
It’s still abnormal that I’m missing significant people in my life, and it’s odd that there’s now new people in my world.
It’s funny how things work out, and I know that in time everything will work out.
Every day I move closer to finding a new normal – a normal that will change, and continue to change, throughout my lifetime.
I have always thought of myself as someone who didn’t deal particularly well with change, but this transformation has taught me that change isn’t always a bad thing. Change is weird, but it is OK.
With change comes growth and the ability to become something greater than you were once before.
Seasons, people and basically everything changes – but that’s part of life. And as cliché as it sounds, I’m learning to embrace it.
OLIVIA BURGER
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