The Day Everything Changes, but You Won’t Notice

That day is today—the December solstice.

Here in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s the year’s shortest day. (As defined by hours of daylight, obviously.) For my readers in the Southern hemisphere, it’s the opposite. It’s the longest day. (Enjoy the summer, my Aussie friends!)

So in a very scientific and real way, today is when we switch from the days getting shorter and shorter to the days getting longer and longer.

But I would like to challenge you to notice the difference right away. You won’t.

Where I live, today will have 10 hours, 10 minutes, and 48 seconds of sunlight. That’s the shortest day of the year. Tomorrow? 10 hours, 10 minutes, and 49 seconds.

I guarantee you I’m not going to notice. That doesn’t mean that nothing has changed. It has. It just started, though, and that change’s ramifications are not evident yet. Over the next few months, though, we’ll see a huge difference. It just won’t happen all at once. It’ll be a second one day, a minute the next, maybe a few minutes. All leading up to the next solstice, in June, when it’ll be the longest day, and then change again.

Changes in nature happen slowly like this. Changes in ourselves frequently do as well. I’ve said it many times because it’s true. Healing and learning do not happen overnight. It’s a process. It’s adding a second here, a minute there, and getting to the point where the day is hours longer. Then it’s adding another change and doing it again.

So tomorrow, I’m not going to notice any change in the length of the day, but the change happened. I can count on that.