The overall concept of Autumn means that due to the photosynthetic cycle of all plants, the leaves of almost all trees turn into bright, warm colours such as orange, red, and yellow. This natural cycle represents a lack of chlorophyll as the sunlight during that time of year starts to decrease. Thus, Autumn means the leaves change colour, they naturally start to fall as the crisp winds of October strengthen and dry up the leaves, causing them to fall off the branches.
Autumn is a season that’s loved by many due to its beauty, but does it hold any meaning? As humans, we can view Autumn as a lesson taught by nature.
Autumn is the season of harvesting, not just as animals, but it’s a time to harvest all that we have accomplished, and like the leaves, we should also begin to let go. Letting go of all that we don’t need, letting go of all that may have taken place before Autumn. Autumn is a time for reflection, re-evaluation, and a chance to nurture ourselves.
No matter how strong the winds are and how often the breeze blows by, we should always accept that the best way to move forward is to let go, just like the once green leaves do every year. Autumn is a way of reminding us of Earth’s promise about how every season will be followed by the next one. Just like for us, we need to understand that no matter what goes on at a certain point in life, believe that it will be followed by something much better. Logically, letting go is so beneficial for our mental health. It is a practice of mentally cleansing our minds so we are able to focus on the positives. Additionally, we are able to be present, believe in ourselves, and forgive our mistakes or even others’, thereby increasing our feelings of happiness. Letting go generally also makes us more flexible and adaptable people.
Practicing letting go ensures we don’t restrict ourselves to constantly thinking about things we don’t need to give energy to. For example, many times in a relationship, whether a marriage, friendship, boss and employee relationship, business partners, or whatever it may be, the biggest downfall present is the inability to forgive and forget the other person’s faults and focus your energy on what truly matters. We tend to repeatedly stay stuck on an irritating action, phrase or thought, and keep ourselves restricted to negatively thinking about an individual we have a relationship with. This then results in more frequent arguments, bad decisions, and overall negatively impacts our performance with day-to-day tasks. Autumn teaches us there is no point in this. Just like every leaf, whether it likes to be on the tree, is annoyed by the constant winds blowing at it, eventually the leaf falls off and lets go of the branch it was once so strongly attached to.
In addition to letting go, Autumn tells us that for something nice to begin, something needs to end. Many of us have a hard time dealing with change, ending things to give way to new opportunities. This can be applied to many of us in different areas of our lives. Another way of saying “letting go” is to accept that to introduce new experiences into your life, something needs to end.
This is a hard concept to understand; however, as we observe autumn, live during autumn, and breathe its oxygen, we need to learn that just like the ending of summer (a time of happiness, fun, friends, long sunny days, family gatherings, beach outings, pool dates, etc.) allows for the colorful, breezy season, Autumn. Then, to also understand that as white winter comes along, skiing days, snowball fights, snow angels, the smiles and laughter with friends, family all happen in front of the fireplaces we’re blessed to have. Then, as the time for dry winter winds and trees begins to come to an end, spring comes around with its bright colorful flowers, greenery, and cute dates to go to the flower shops to gift your friends and family; cute dresses come out of the closets, and jumping in the rain puddles almost becomes a regular ritual. Each season, just like the coziness and beauty of autumn, every season brings its own glamour. But the speciality of autumn is that you are getting ready for a flip, a 180 change from warm weather to cooler weather, from long days to shorter days, but in all the change, many look at it as the end of something (summer) but others take that same outlook while also appreciating the new wonderful aspects that come their way during autumn (the beauty in the colors of the trees, the pumpkin patch dates, baking cinnamon buns, cozy sweaters and cute boots fashion, staying in studying with friends or reading books, jumping in the piles of fallen dried leaves, taking road trips to another city for train tours to explore the colors autumn brings, etc.).
Autumn teaches us to let go and allow for certain things to end so we can experience new things with new experiences and new opportunities. During the season of autumn, we need to accept this concept but then also implement it for the rest of our lives with every season that comes along every year.