To celebrate his 40th birthday, a writer friend, Eric Martell, has decided to host a flash fiction contest called Fall Flash Festival with the deadline of his birthday (3rd of October). He has themed it by the present season of autumn, and anything that brings to mind.
Here's what came to my mind.
Change
Emily looked out of the window and admired the bright autumn
day. The trees in the wood behind the house giving their best before the winter
took them. But as the leaves changed so did her mood.
Although Emily loved that the air turned cooler and preparation
for festivities like Halloween and Christmas brought about excitement in so
many of her loved ones, she couldn’t help, but feel low.
Was it the end to another year and not feeling any further?
Was the feeling that her life was passing and she still had so much she wanted
to achieve? Or was it something far more simple, like the darkening and
shortening of the days? It didn’t really matter; she was helpless to change any
of it, much like the trees were to stop their leaves from changing colour and falling.
She had to accept there were limitations to how much a single person could do
in one lifetime.
Emily could feel her mind baulk at such a thought; angry and
frustrated. She started to chide herself for not being focused enough, or
disciplined enough, not believing in herself enough. She was determined that
this time she wasn’t going to tolerate such defeatist thinking, this time she
was going to do the things she wanted to do. She grabbed a pen and paper and
started scribbling furiously. It was time to reflect what she saw out of the
window; it was time for a change.
244 Words
So many feel this way, I get it in March. Autumn though enthralls and captivates me and enlivens me! You've caught the feeling of change...
ReplyDeleteMarch? But that's when it starts getting lighter and things wake up. I find that enthralling. Now I am running to the end of the year and wondering if I have achieved all I wanted to this year....usually I don't feel I have.
DeleteI like Missy's reply, Autumn Winter is my down time, people don't seem to expect so much of me, so it's my time! Then March April comes along, and people want me to wake up and join in! Don't get me wrong, Spring is fun and I love the beauty and new growth, but I'm not a Summer person so there's an 'Oh, no summer heat is on its way' feeling about spring that I don't like!
DeleteExcellent reflections. I, too, feel it in March. Autumn is a relief to me because it's permission to let go of the summer's goals and move on.
ReplyDeleteYou too? My goals start at the New Year, it is now I am assessing what I have achieved, if anything. Plus the mornings get so dark now, March is when they get light again.
DeleteI'm with Lisa, autumn makes me feel brighter, as if released from a cage. Perhaps summer's grand expectations of happiness are too much for me. At any rate you captured perfectly that experience (whatever the season outside) of downturning and looking inward. Lovely read!
ReplyDeleteInteresting. I get that "seasonal low" thing but I love autumn because it is the end of the terrible heat and the chance to snuggle up in a warm house and get on with indoor things, knowing that all the dead leaves will make compost from which new growth will come in the Spring - both physically and metaphorically.
ReplyDelete