For this prompt, from almost exactly a year ago, I had participants write down at the top of their page: “Summer is just around the corner, then what…” The idea of the prompt was to engage in hopeful prose at the onset of Summer days. Somehow, I was able to make my response a bit pessimistic. Occupational hazard perhaps. Nonetheless, I think that part of what makes writing a helpful or even therapeutic activity is that you’re able to look at your pessimism and then hopefully move on from it. I think that’s what I take away from this piece. And as we head towards yet another Summer, I feel thankful to have this perspective of last year’s sentiments to build from.
Here is what I wrote:
Anticipation slowly builds up. Waiting. Looking forward to something. But how far forward can I look before I realize I’m actually looking backwards? The Summer is blissful. The warm mornings and short nights make my soul feel replenished. But before long, the mornings get colder again. The nights get longer. Before I know it, I’m back in that cool Winter, that baron landscape where I’m stuck with longing for days come and gone.
It’s a circle, and whether I’m looking fondly forward, or blatantly backwards, days are filtering through like the sand of an hour glass. There is nothing but now. There is nothing but past. The future is nonexistent, because it hasn’t happened yet.
So I could look forward and create a vision of what my next Fall and Winter will be, but ultimately, it has the potential to be even greater than Spring or Summer. Inspired by hope, guide by the past and living for the here and now.
