March 25, 2026 by Joanna Dutra
Switching seasons is always challenging. Not just from a clothing perspective. I don’t have that down either- hat & gloves one day, tennis skirt another.
Just as wildly as the temperatures vacillate between warm and cold, so do our moods.
I may be in the minority, but I’ve always hated spring. As a big skier, spring typically marked the end of ski season which brought its own melancholy in the form of muddy roads and dirty snow.
Spring seemed more like a shoulder season, an in-between place, than a destination.
In March 2020 I was trapped inside my house.
I could only do so many puzzles.
I could only homeschool so much.
I knew I wasn’t meant to be an elementary teacher.
I didn’t need a global pandemic to prove it.
I was feeling starved for hope.
I looked outside during those early days of spring searching for signs of something hopeful. I ended up finding simple ones that nature provided – buds on trees, early daffodils. I’ve always been flora & fauna illiterate, so I began learning more about birds and birdsong instead.
I dove headfirst into understanding differences in species, looking for anything colorful to distract me from the news.
I declared my official sign of hope a robin’s egg. I loved that incredible shade of blue.
I started taking longer walks in search of interesting things. Suddenly, I was finding pieces of robins eggs each time. I put them in my kitchen on what I called a Hope Shelf.
Yeah, I could have done better with the name.
I know a male cardinal flaunts a vibrant red, while its female counterpart is a duller brown. Gender inequity aside, it’s up to the male to impress the female – so perhaps Mother Nature knew he’d need all the help he could get.
What I didn’t know is the American Goldfinch, a gorgeous yellow, spends the winter a drab brownish-olive color. Only when March comes along does it start to shed feathers and become the beautiful bird it was always meant to be.
So too, can we shed some feathers and emerge more colorful and improved.
Perhaps we trade a cynical brown feather, one that hasn’t offered much in terms of positivity – for one that is vibrant, bold, and hopeful.
Despite their delicate appearance and diminutive size, I learned goldfinches are tenacious survivors. Able to adapt to ever-changing climates and landscapes, they’re friendlier than most birds. They have a high degree of sociability and tolerate many different kinds of neighbors.
Put something on the horizon for yourself.
It doesn’t have to be an actual vacation. But it can be a vacation from your normal, resting mindset.
Spring is for awakening our senses. It’s a new beginning, or a continuation of something that has been dormant.
You’ve always had it in you. Even if you weren’t showing it.
Now is the time to flex those feathers.
Display your true colors.
Be brighter.
If you were looking for a sign, I hope I helped get you a little closer to finding one.