Spring is here. Technically. The calendar says we’ve crossed into a new season.
But Buffalo is doing what Buffalo does best: keeping the sky grey, the air cold, and the trees bare. It keeps that lingering feeling that winter is not done with us yet.
And I have to say, this weather keeps testing me.
It tests my mood, my patience, my energy, and my ability not to turn the gloomy day into a full philosophy of despair. It’s amazing how quickly a cold grey day can start whispering things like: nothing is moving, nothing is changing, everything is hard, and you are still stuck here.
This weather keeps testing my EQ.
EQ, or emotional intelligence, is not being sweet, calm, polite, and “regulated” all the time. It’s not acting like nothing bothers you. It’s not fake positivity. And it’s definitely not fake it till you make it while smiling through irritation.
EQ is the ability to notice what’s happening in you before it takes over the whole room. It’s knowing that the weather is affecting you. It’s catching the fact that your bad mood may not be some grand truth about your life, but a reaction to another endless grey day.
It’s understanding that frustration, heaviness, disappointment, and restlessness are real, but they do not have to run the show. EQ is not about not having emotions. It’s about not being hijacked by them entirely.
For me, it can be as simple as this: I wake up feeling my whole system sinking, and instead of unconsciously becoming that mood, I notice it. I name it. I swear at it. I get it out of my system early on and separate it from my worth, my life, and the larger truth.
Emotional intelligence is awareness.
It’s not pretending the weather is lovely when it clearly is not. It’s being able to say: yes, this is dreary and it’s affecting me, and no, I’m not going to let it take me down.
So no, spring is not in the air. Change is.
Just because the sky is grey doesn’t mean everything else is. Nor does it mean it will stay this way forever.
If you’re navigating change, feeling stuck, or trying to reconnect with yourself in a more intentional way, you don’t have to do it alone. Book a 1:1 coaching call.
And keep an eye out for my upcoming courses, including Finding Your Happy Place as a self-paced option.