“Even though February was the shortest month of the year, sometimes it seemed like the longest.” ― JD Robb
February has many good things going for it. For a start, it’s the very last month of Winter. For another everything starts to wake up, the birds, the flowers, the trees. And finally, you can see winter is waining as the length of the days become longer.
But, and I say this is the nicest possibly – February sucks. It’s like seeing the light at the end of a long tunnel but you’re not quite there yet. It’s still cold, wet, windy and during a pandemic is can make for a very hard month to get through.
But we can. We can get through this because we’ve come so far and we’re going to use every last bit of grit we have to to get there.
February has a few rather nice events that can really take our minds off from the day to day stuff. First off there is Super Bowl, which for nothing else is worth watching to see what adverts appear. Then there is Valentine’s day. Time to get creative 😉
After that, it’s Shrove Tuesday aka Pancake Day which was always the traditional way of using up cupboard foods in readiness for practising Lent. And even if you’re not religious February is very much about cleaning up and out ready for a brand new Spring.
It’s a month of slowly unfurling ourselves from the long winter and starting to warm up ready for more light and kinder temperatures.
I’m still using candles to brighten up the evenings and making soup for those really cold snaps. The fire is still burning strong-most weekends especially as the ground is currently covered in thick snow (yay!). It’s still about enjoying books (when I can concentrate), watching movies and playing board games. And as much as February can be really restrictive in stopping us from going out because the season really throws all it can at us during this month, it’s still important to walk and enjoy getting outside as much as we can.
Listen to that birdsong as it starts to ramp up.
Watch the flowering bulbs as the first bright colours of the year.
See the waxwings flying about or the hazel catkin clusters on the trees.
On the days the wind is howling and your fingers freeze the moment you step out the door it’ll take a gargantuan effort. Don’t fight it, just do what you need to do. If that’s just sticking your head out the door for a few minutes or checking out the plants around your garden then that’s just as good. Or if like me it’s the snow that brings you outside then even better.
Just get through every day the best way you know-how. Self-care, self love and love to others. That’s what I think February is all about.
Thank you for reading.
Growing the Green Life - doing something good every day 