DAY THIRTEEN – SEASONS
When we hear the word “season” what comes readily to mind? It could be one of the four seasons of Summer, Spring, Winter or Fall. Did you notice they were not listed in order of their appearance? One season ends, another begins and the most obvious characteristic, besides each one following another in a predictable order, is change and how each is different from the other.
The travel industry speaks often of high season and low season, even a shoulder season and that has to do with high and low times of popularity with the transition being the shoulder period. Rates will vary accordingly. Health experts talk about a flu season. In the United States, the flu season is considered October through May. It typically reaches an apex in February. In Australia, the flu season is considered May to October.
The seasons of our lives have been defined by various people and studied in detail by many.
Over the entire life cycle, the seven stages a human moves through include infancy, early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, middle adulthood and old age. In adult development Dan Levinson and his colleagues looked at “The Seasons of a Man’s Life” (Random House 1978) in terms of what happens in one’s 30’s and 40’s and later “The Seasons of a Woman’s Life” (Ballantine Books, 1996) acknowledging similarities and differences in gender expectations and behaviors.
Regardless where we are in our own developmental stage – early, middle or later – each stage has its own peculiar and identifying characteristics. What we can learn about navigating our way through these personally identifiable stages may give us some clues about the why and how of each season of our life. We mark seasons on a calendar via holidays, birthdays and anniversaries. We may also mark the seasons of our lives with celebrations of growth and change over time. Have a good look and see how you might celebrate your growth and change.
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Comments (2)
I am fortunate and grateful to live in a location which provides the full experience of all four seasons… when I was living in India, there used to be a fifth season… the ‘rainy season’ defined by the onset of the Monsoon in early July, and lasting about six weeks… a time for dissipating the fierce summer heat, a time of replenishing the soil in the plains by flooding the rivers, a time for eating mangoes, and much more… such an important season that a ‘failed monsoon’ would affect the entire economic output of India – I believe that it still does. How’s that for nature being in charge of a country’s prosperity?
You will enjoy the next one “WEATHER” as a follow on to “SEASONS” and although I did not give much notice to rain or snow and the downsides to those in extreme forms, we need both for things to grow. Nature does indeed affect crop production in all parts of the world, drought being seen as an enemy that destroys. Floods are regarded as negative when they destroy and yet there are benefits to floods for “replenishing” soil and growth for many things, as you have noted.