Snowfall and the future

After a false start, and a few flakes of snow slowly drifting past my window, the first real snowfall happened yesterday in my town of Gimcehon. When you combine that with the dropping temperatures and frozen droplets of water on my bedroom window, it is no longer a fact that is able to be hid, winter is here in Korea.

My hometown was only one hour from Chicago, and therefore only one hour from Lake Michigan, which in the winter would be responsible for some of the coldest winter and largest snow drifts you could imagine. I imagine it would be worse in other parts of the world, but to someone growing up with it every winter, the snow and cold was a permanent part of living in the Midwest.

Snow brings a new mood and a feeling freshness to any setting you’re in. Its clean white flakes drifting in the air and falling lightly on the ground always stood as a symbol of purity and fresh beginnings. I welcomed the first snowfall like I welcomed the first orange leaf or blossoming flower, with excitement and a sense of a new chapter beginning again.

I feel eager to start another year in Korea. I was recently asked if I wanted to re-sign my contract, and by choosing yes I am now able to pursue a second year with both the experience gained from my first and a selection of new ideas and lessons to present to the students. I have been told that as with many things in life, a second chance brings with it the opportunity to do even better if you embrace it.

Admittedly, I have been thinking about the future lately, and how I fit into the coming years. I had always had a solid plan of what I wanted to do and where I want to go next. While I still retain this plan and have an idea of what I want to do, the methods and the timing of achieving this have changed, a year in a different country has brought forward new possibilities and new options. Admittedly I don’t want to think of all of these options quite yet as I do not have a solid plan of what I’m doing next. All I know is what I want, how I get it is a plan in pending.

For now, thoughts of the future and what ifs are left to dwell at the back of my mind, my attention is now on my present situation.  While it may look like I’m putting off the inevitable, I would say that I am instead choosing to enjoy and experience on what is in front of me. The future will soon become the present and just like everything in my life, I will deal with it appropriately.

For now, I have a lot to focus on and a lot to enjoy. I have a lot to worry about and a lot to accomplish. I have a lot of things in my present, the future can wait.

For now I watch the snowfall, because just like the future, the snow will give away to a beautiful layer, then a dirty slush to be melted away by the rain, to give way for the spring and a new future.

In my life, snow has never lasted forever so I enjoy it while I can, for as long as I can.

“I never think of the future- it comes soon enough” – Albert Einstein. 

Taebeak Mountain 태백산 설경