Freestyle

Understanding Seasons

To everything there is a season. The clothes and the shoes we wear, the food we eat, the places we visit, the diseases we are prone to, our mood, and to a large extent, our daily activities all depend on the season. It has been found that human productivity is also affected by seasons, just as some animals and plants. Perhaps one of the areas of human activities most affected by seasons is farming; anyone who grew up in a farm settlement or near farm yards, especially Africans who grew up in the rural part of the continent can understand in basic terms the significance of seasons to farming activities. Despite the fact that most farmers in that part of the world are not educated, they fully appreciate the nexus between planting and the seasons.In the modern day society, apart from farming, the business enterprises, government institutions and the community development bodies cannot underplay the relevance of seasons to their activities. Also in the area of sports and outdoor games, the far reaching influence of the seasons cannot be disputed, there are popular sports for each season and there are suitable seasons for most kind of sports. Our activities are most times tailored to suit the season.Although science and technology has not be able to find a way to change the course of nature, by deliberately altering the seasons, men, aided by science and technology, have always been finding their way around the challenges posed by the seasons. For instance, though rainfall is seasonal in most part of the world, science and technology has devised means by which water can be available for most part of the year to aid plant growth out of season. Also, in spite of the fact that we cannot get the whole atmosphere to be warm during winter, and cool during the summer, science and technology has provided devices that see to it that our enclosures are warm in winter and cool in the summer. The world today is blessed with innumerable inventions and innovations which are spurred by men’s zeal to get the best out of the seasons and find a way around their constraints. Just as the seasons are very relevant to the different climatic regions of the world, it has a metaphorical connotation to our individual lives. Every phase of one’s life, the beginnings, the ends, the tough times one goes through, the individual’s state of career and finance all represent seasons in one’s life. Each season comes with its characterized abundance and scarcity. Each season represents change, each season symbolizes a new beginning, and each season is a reflection of the losses and gains of the previous seasons. The seasons, and not a single continuous experience, are what make up a man’s life. A lot is determined by the seasons for us as individuals or collectively. While the seasons of life are sometimes collectively experienced by individuals, families, corporate entities and even nations, it is very interesting to note that each individual may have to go through certain seasons alone, and often, side by side with others who are also in there varied seasons. Imagine someone going through the summer of her life walking along side another who is in his winter, they will certainly give off different level of excitement. It is possible for four friends to be going through different seasons at the same point in their lives, in such situation,  as much as they may wish to make decisions together, it will be impracticable to make a mutually beneficial decision. The paradox is that we all sometimes go through different times at the same time.In view of the forgoing, it becomes imperative that one takes time to study and understands the seasons in his or her life. The question to ask is “what season am I now?” Seeking answers to this question will not only aid one in understanding his or her current station in life, but also lead to an in -depth understanding of the opportunities and the challenges seasons present and how best the opportunities can be harnessed in the light of its attendant challenges. Understanding your current season will give you a fair idea of what is convenient and what is expedient at this stage of your life. It also gives one insight into the likely pitfalls and the vulnerabilities of the season. Being conscious of what stage of life one is at every point in time helps to ensure that one channels his/her activities constructively towards self actualization. It also helps one’s human relations aptitude, this is because, a key to understanding people is to understand their current seasons. People are not always uptight, people are not always carefree, people are not always generous, and people are not always aggressive or desperate. The reaction you get from people depends largely on the current season of their lives. Apart from the fact that one needs to identify his or her current season and its attendant opportunities and challenges, one also ought to ascertain what ought to be done during the season and set about doing it. Each season by its nature has defined list of items that are best done while it lasts. The question to ask is, “what are the things I have to do during this season of my life?” Conversely one should also ask “what are the things I should not do in this season of my life?” For instance, the first six months of arriving in the US is a season in the new immigrant’s life, there are things that should be done to lay a solid foundation for living in the US during this season and there are certain things that should be avoided like a plague. To get the best out of every season of one’s life notwithstanding its challenges, it is important that one identifies and do what needs to be done when it should be done. Simple things become complicated when done out of season. As earlier mentioned, each season comes with its loads of opportunities and challenges, it is therefore important that we strive to find a way around the constraints, if we ever want to fully harness the opportunities. Farm produce markets in Nigeria, West Africa are on open fields. During the raining season, the market women do not stop trading because of the rain, even when it rains all day long. This is because the raining season is the season of harvest and they are determined to sell their farm produce to get the best of the season. They always have handy, umbrellas and polythene materials to cover themselves and their wares. They just will not allow the challenges posed by rainfall to deprive them of the opportunity to make money from the sales of the harvested farm produce. One should not allow the challenges or constraint of any season to hinder his/her personal growth and development.Every phase of our lives is bound to pave the way for another; this is because the human life is not programmed to be static. The only way the future can be secure is by getting the best out of the present. If anything goes wrong in the previous season, it is likely to tell negatively on subsequent seasons. A farmer, who failed to plant in the planting season cannot reasonable look forward to harvesting during the harvesting season. In the same vein, if one works and saves towards a holiday all through the winter, autumn and spring, all things being equal, he or she can look forward to a fun time in summer. There is an age long responsibility on human creatures to preserve the abundance of a season to cater for the scarcity of another season. We will all be better off, if we prepare as much as possible for the times ahead. However, if one cannot see ahead, he/she cannot plan ahead. Each season comes with its lessons and blessings, the hardships you face are not to crush you but to make you stronger, the mistakes are not to destroy you but to make you better, and the disappointments are not to discourage you but to make you independent, the opportunities each season avails you will go with the season if you fail to seize them. Failure is inevitable when preparation is taken for granted.