Cycles. Our world is governed by them, nature lives by them, and when we embrace them, we can find the flow of life and ride its waves.
This past Monday, I awoke 
to a different morning from any other these past winter months. It was cool outside in the predawn stillness but not cold; I’m talking the kind of cold that sinks to your bones, makes you shiver and has you move quickly with purpose in an attempt to leave it behind. Standing in the cool morning, one begins to meander a bit more while walking, listening to the birds welcoming spring, observing the trees moving just a bit more than in the stillness of winter. Having that inherent acknowledgement of the arrival of spring coursing through my veins, I decided it was time to begin building once again and made my way home to draft plans.
Dog sitting some furry friends
At the hardware store later that morning, I found myself cutting Rebar so that I can map out the foundations of the next yurts. One needs very straight and precise lines to build a perfectly level circle on a hillside. Working through the process, I felt a wave of joy with the realization of returning to this process that initially brought me to Colorado. I recognize that since the end of November, I went into a sort of hibernation working on the mountain and in the ICU, 60 hours a week while trying to build some savings. As much fun 
as ski patrol was, the process felt robotic at times while jumping between the two jobs. These past months, I would only go to the property to snow shoe from time to time and was otherwise locked out due to three to four-foot snow drifts along the unplowed mile easement. Only now in circling back, can I step back and see this larger process of embracing the ebb and flow that surrounds me.
The winter months served a valuable purpose of generating income, taking a break from ripping wood, reflecting on the project, working through loan applications and connecting to Salida. Embracing that part of the circle was instrumental in arriving back at this place. If I had fretted about not accessing the property, or stalling in building, it would have only generated stress when there was plenty to focus on that was just less direct to the goals at hand.
This goes for so many if not all aspects of our lives. Whether we are between jobs, sick or injured or in a relationship or single. These are all places within distinct cycles. One can stress about an injury or can embrace literature, music and the learning of a new language so that one day when healed, they will be more adapt to travel through this world. One can fret when lonely or find the joys of independence and liberation that accompany solitude, focusing on self. We have all been through these various cycles and will likely revisit many of them throughout our lives. It is when we accept them as inherent and part of our biology, that we are released from an impossibly linear expectation that is so often pushed on us as the only way to live. We are not machines and to think so is to lose that constantly changing perspective; that ability to embrace all places along that orbit. So long live the ebb and flow of our biology and may you find and ride both the big waves and the small waves throughout your life and if it happens to be flat calm, well enjoy that stillness too.
