ushering in spring
thoughts on manifesting gentleness, gratitude, and good music this season
After beginning my spring break with three days of being under the weather, blowing my nose approximately every six minutes, and sleeping 12 hours a night, I saw the first signs of spring. On a walk to my local duck pond, I witnessed a beautiful sight: dozens of miniature purple crocus flowers sprouting on a neighbor’s lawn. It almost made me cry (though I’m blaming this on my residual exhaustion). Welcoming the 62-degree air into my lungs as I listened to Minnie Riperton on my headphones, I felt energized for the first time in nearly 72 hours. It took emerging from my cold-and-burnout-induced slumber to realize that it was time to start listening to spring music. I stepped outside, and it was like my third eye had opened. Maybe I stopped paying attention to the Groundhog Day verdict years ago (sorry, Punxsutawney Phil). Or perhaps I experienced weather above 58 degrees two days in a row, blasted the intro to Bill Withers’ “Lovely Day,” and simply decided to roll with it. Either way, I’m choosing to manifest springtime and sunshine, tenderness and joyfulness, the art of being present, and the gift of lounging in the grass with friends.
This past winter in Ohio has been cold, difficult, and filled with many days of underwhelming snow. Despite being the shortest month, February always seems to trudge along. I was tired of freezing temperatures but also acutely aware of the ephemerality and transience of everything. This whole year, I’ve been trying to notice my milestones and celebrate my successes, though it sometimes feels like a fruitless form of documentation and observation. But playlists, journal entries, unposed photos of friends: all of it matters! It’s how we mark time and capture fragments of our fleeting thoughts, feelings, interests, and fixations. It’s how we connect, share our passions, and cherish the good moments even in hard stretches. There are so many fun times to look forward to in the last two months of the semester, so I want to spend the remainder of the break resting up for the final leg of my college career. I’m excited to plan more amazing events with my beloved WKCO co-Exec members, soak up the beauty of Gambier for one last season, and lean into what I love (people, music, and nature alike).
Artists like Blossom Dearie, The Sundays, and Astrud Gilberto remind me of low-growing plants, watching geese dip into the pond with the smallest of ripples, and designating time to be mindful –– particularly outdoors –– amidst the whirlwind that has been the last couple of months. I began to compile this playlist on that very walk a few days ago and have been feverishly editing the order of the songs since, as I regain some of the motivation and energy that my senior spring workload, a tedious post-grad job search, and the weight of the current political situation has sapped from me. As always, music makes everything feel lighter, and there’s something to be said for curating a mix of mood boosters to make you feel both soft and reinvigorated, even if it feels artificial at first. Fake it until you make it! Organized very intentionally, this 34-song playlist blends old and new: Aretha Franklin and Joni Mitchell alongside Ichiko Aoba and Alex G. For every winter, there will be a spring, and for every classic singer, a newer artist is channeling the same universal feelings of gentleness and vulnerability. For me, it’s the perfect soundtrack for taking that first no-winter-jacket-needed walk and setting intentions for a new season. Bonus points if you spot some budding crocuses in your neck of the woods, too.
listen in order