“Everywhere you go / You always take the weather with you” sang Crowded House in 1992, and you might be familiar with the song even if 1992 is ancient history to you, because it’s also on the soundtrack of the movie Everest, which only came out last year (remember the party, the night before they start climbing? It’s that song. Oh, and since you’re googling old music anyway, you might want to check out “Don’t Dream It’s Over”, by the same band too – fantastic, isn’t it?).

The Internet doesn’t seem quite sure about the meaning of “taking the weather with you”: a Quora user suggests that maybe it means that wherever you go, you can always resort to weather as a suitable conversation topic – which is an interesting interpretation, and one that would seem entirely plausible if Crowded House were English and not Australian. Wikipedia says the song is about “the effect a person has on their surroundings by the type of person they are, whether it be good or bad”. (To which I can only say “I think I know what you mean, but…Huh?”)

To me, “Weather with You” talks about our emotional weather, our internal environment, and how that colours all our experiences and affects all our actions. It explains to me why, over the course of my own life, I have changed cities, jobs, careers, had kids, and constantly expected these major events to have much more of an impact on me than they actually did. Wherever I go and whatever happens to me, I’m always stuck with myself, for better and for worse. Sometimes (such as when I remember to channel Brené Brown and be whole-hearted, self-compassionate and brave) that can be a blessing, but sometimes (such as when I realise that I’ve very likely wasted about half my life worrying, or that I’m hopelessly addicted to parentheses) it can be a major pain.

Which brings me to my big question on this first day of March – if we always take the weather with us, can we make our own weather? And if we can, then why not make it beautiful, bountiful, bouncing, blossoming spring? (Is it just me or is “b” a particularly friendly, happy sound? Can’t tell, so I asked my first question on Quora – major milestone!)

Spring is lovely because it’s unpredictable, tempestuous and doesn’t take itself too seriously, but it’s full of potential and always (ok, in most cases) has a happy ending. Also, spring is more than just a season – here’s an excerpt from what my trusty friend Google had to say:

spring

/sprɪŋ/

verb

1. move or jump suddenly or rapidly upwards or forwards.

synonyms:       leap, jump, bound, vault, hop

2. originate or arise from.

“madness and creativity could spring from the same source”

noun

1. the season after winter and before summer, in which vegetation begins to appear.
2. the ability to spring back strongly.

synonyms: bounciness, bounce, resilience, elasticity, flexibility

3. a sudden jump upwards or forwards.

synonyms: leap, jump, bound, vault, hop;

4. a place where water or oil wells up from an underground source, or the basin or flow formed in such a way; the origin or a source of something.

 

These are all great things, right? I don’t know about you, but I totally want my internal weather to be all springy and bouncy and resilient, and a source of wonderful things!

So here I am, officially on the quest to figure out how to get my mind in sustainable spring mode (in legal and safe ways, in case anyone was thinking about shortcuts!), and I hope you’ll check in from time to time – who knows, maybe something helpful springs from the page! (Bad pun, I know, couldn’t help myself…)

See you soon, stay springy! (even worse pun but I really really couldn’t resist…)

Copyright: kudryashka / 123RF Stock Photo