Turning Hate to Love (or Like)

In 56 days fall will begin (I'm writing this post on July 28th.) It's always been a toss-up as to which is my least favorite season, autumn or winter. Most hurricanes arrive during fall, and then there's the whole pumpkin spice insanity that takes over the world. I do like making Thanksgiving dinner, but otherwise, pass. As for winter, I've promised to stop hating Christmas, but honestly, I will never love it. No one will let me skip the holidays, so I have a lot of pretending to be cheerful and going along with the Christmas nonsense. I do like the change of seasons as far as colder weather arriving, but that's all.

At this time in my life I sometimes resent how much I have to do (along with all the work involved) to celebrate seasons I've disliked since I was a child. I do like making others happy, however, and I will continue to set aside my dislike and do the work for them. If/when the day comes that I ever live on my own, I often consider what I'd do to put swift end to all this autumn and winter hoopla. It's the very worst of the herd mentality I can't escape. Like the birthdate I hate celebrating, I'd like it all to stop.

Unfortunately I've reached an age when I don't have all that many autumns or winters left to really dislike. I can probably count my future years on two hands (maybe only one if I take a bad turn with my health.) It seems wrong to hate half the year when your years are dwindling rapidly. I need to find some joy in these seasons before I run out of them and I'm not around even to grumble about and resent them.

For autumn I am planning to mend, make over and donate as many Vera Bradley upcycled bags as I can, so thrift shoppers can buy them as holiday gifts. That will be a creative, happy thing for me to do. I'm also going to makeover our guest room so that it's more comfortable and welcoming for our nephew and our daughter when they visit. I love makeovers.

Winter is the tough one because of Christmas, but this year our nephew will probably be living with us. I am going to work on some new house decorations and try out some new holiday-themed recipes so I can make his Christmas a nice one. I like cooking and making things, so that should help boost my spirits. I'm also going to try to thrift or make at least one gift for everyone I love.

There's nothing wrong with disliking this time of year, I know that. I also know that negativity drains my energy and leaves me wallowing in unhappy memories. I'd rather spend my time to make new, better ones. So that's my plan. :)

Image Credit: Image by Image by Melanie from Pixabay

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Valerean

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