The light in the dark

One of my favourite types of days belongs in the depths of winter. It's one of those unexpected gem's in life.

You wake up expecting it to be as freezing as when you went to bed, all wrapped up in your pj's that you only wear because they're warm but you secretly love. You gently open one eye, only enough to see that its far too bright for this time of morning and "Who turned all the lights on!!" Annoyed, you roll back but you know that once you've opened that one eye, there's no going back. The sunlight has pierced your eye and you must open the other to see why on earth it's this bright. You search your mind for a reason before your curiosity forces you to look.

Rays of glorious sunshine pour into your chilly room, still huddled in blankets kidding yourself you could have slept through winter and woken up in summer. You venture out of your room to investigate this confusing phenomenon (everything is a little more interesting when you're still half asleep.) Dragging your blankets behind you, still freezing, you open the door to what appears to be more sunlight than you have ever seen almost completely convinced that it is summer. But how can it be, it's June and you live in the southern hemisphere, all those Tumblr posts of summer must be getting to your head.

It is at this point that half of me wants to crawl back into bed and wait for December to roll around and the other half wants something completely different.

I want to get up, get dressed, forget the make up, go for a run somewhere beautiful, buy a coffee, drive to the beach, stay in the car cause it is far too cold to get out. Go to the library, check out some books, write a story, ignore my phone, see a friend, laugh too much. Enjoy the fact that the sun is shinning when the sky should be storming.

I feel one with the world in this moment, like everything is connected in some way. For the sky to put on a beautiful day even though it should naturally be all thunderstorms and raindrops helps me realise that we've all got stuff beneath the surface and our brave faces can sometimes hold more meaning that just being a way to hide. I think they prove our strength. We push through despite the worries and struggles that press on our hearts.

- ShaniJoy