It is Autumn break here in Finland this week, and the rain is drizzling down onto the last of the fall leaves and into the already saturated ground. Despite the grey, at least there is still that splash of colour in the trees to remind that it isn't all completely bleak yet. Once those leaves fall though, it is considered the "dark time" and when the light is absorbed further into the void. It isn't until there is snow on the ground that sight is possible again.
As a birthday present a few months ago, Smallsteps received a night in the country with her aunty and family and I drove her there a little while ago and even she said how beautiful it looked and how there were bands of colour, with the yellow of the cut fields, the strips of green fir trees, intermingled with more yellow of birth and some red from maple and rowan trees. Even at this late stage of autumn and with a dreary sky, it is still looking good.
It is so different to where I grew up in Australia, where it was very dry around where I was born, and then tropical in the region I went to university. Here, there really are four distinct seasons and the I think it has an effect on my mind, more so than in Australia. I reckon it is because there is more variability, and the periods are shorter and quite different, so the brain is having to adjust often. Not only that, each season has clear differentiation in tasks, where for instance the spring is filled with gardening, the summer with swimming, the autumn with preparation for winter and the winter, is more about hibernating. Different tasks, different clothes, different energy levels.
I have a "theory" that the average personality or culture of a country is heavily dictated by nature. Where for example, a tropical country where it is generally warm, the trees are more wild, less structured, as are the animals. And the people also don't have to be as prepared as they would in an environment that gets very cold. Those in the far northern hemisphere have to plan for the winter, otherwise, they will literally die of cold and starvation. It means that preparations have to start early, harvests have to be saved, and rationing needs to take place, because much of the year, there isn't very much available to eat, and finding shelter is impossible.
It could also be part of the reason that some immigrants are less able to integrate comfortably into a society, because they could come in too "unstructured" for the common culture. However, someone that comes in "too structured" faces less issues in a low-structure culture, because the structure will allow them to operate, even if they find it stressful to be surrounded by people who are messier than themselves.
In Finland, it is pretty easy to upset someone's frame of mind, all you need to do is change the schedule, be a little late, or a little early, shift the plan. They are a culture of planners and things tend to work, but when the schedule changes, they are a bit like ants with a stick across their walking path. But, there is a cost to be the one to disrupt the path too, as the unstructured person, the flaky person, is seen as unreliable, and can't be fully trusted.
I am now somewhere between, as I am unstructured by nature, but trying to be a more structured planner, as that is more valued, more useful, more trusted, than someone who can't look after even the simplest tasks with order and consistency. Society is set up for structures, whether it be the timetables of school or work, or the monthly bills for electricity and water. But, being too structured kills some creativity also, which means that there has to be a balance somewhere.
For me, I see this as a space for automation to take care of the low-value tasks, but I want control of the high-value activities. It is not about the outcome, it is about the process, because if I do not value the process of what I do, even if the results are good, what kind of experience is it and does it feed my wellbeing? Wellbeing has a cost, no matter which aspect you want to look at.
Wellbeing is never free.
There is always an investment of some kind and depending on which facet of wellbeing we want to look at, it is much like the seasons of nature. Different tasks, different clothes, different energy levels. If we aren't investing ourselves into the right activities in the right way, at the right time, we aren't able to do what is necessary to do in that facet.
The weather changes and doesn't always fit with our plans, but no matter the weather, there is always opportunity to grow, or to prepare to grow, or to rest, as the case may require. There is a saying they use in Finland often.
There is no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothes.
If we can't change the conditions, we have to change ourselves.
Taraz
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