Today is the Winter Solstice; the shortest day.
When I was a kid, I used to think this was a bad thing. I used to think it was a sad time, because we had to wait so long for the sun to come back. I wondered why we celebrated Christmas at such a time of darkness, of seeming hopelessness.
As I grew up, however, I started to realise: just as the sun sets, so it shall rise. The shortest day is always followed by a longer one, and a longer one, and so on after that. Soon the sun will come back, as the night relinquishes its hold on the world.
It's a time of hope; of new beginnings.
I had some good news yesterday, after what has been a trying few months. It feels like it must have been around this time last year, as well, that things started to look up.
As it seems we're only plunging further into winter here in Ireland, yet to hit our true cold spell until well into the new year, it's easy to feel hopeless. But it's important to remember that as the days begin to lengthen, so do things get better. It might not always be right away, and the journey back to happiness is a bumpy one, often marked by its own trials and tribulations, but we'll get there, with time. All of us.
Happy Solstice.
