Across the way in the distance from my kitchen view are an array of string lights that hang to adorn a patio balcony at night. This inspiring observation of luminosity has been radiating since last year’s Christmas holiday, arrived and left. Though we’re now ‘post 2020’ and in the middle of May, the fifth month and middle of spring, these lights continue to transmit tenacity, enthusiasm and a profusion of optimism.

At the sigh of dawn the sky breaks its silence bringing with it new hope, new aspiration and a new view. The morning skies often grant us a clear and crisp sign of possibility. Each day, we get to choose the energy we want to apply to potential that has yet taken flight. Equally, the night skies safeguard our clarity and carry us into the promise of daylight. Both night and day help us to progress and keep our lights on – psychologically and physically. When the sky falls in cities across the globe, the lights come on. Our mood becomes lighter, environment stabilized and mental health, sound. We can rest easy in knowing that a new day, new choice, is on the horizon. We can begin again.

Throughout the northern hemisphere, as the days grow longer, the light will prevail. The shift we’ve come to know as daylight saving time gives way for longer days and extended sunlight, but can also cause triggers in depression, anxiety, and mental illness. Consequently, we must find ways to gleam all year-round, inside-out. Albeit, bare in winter, the tall-rooted trees divide the earth between my home and the patio across the way. Now, I can still see the sparkle at night through the leaves that have permeated the branches and opened their eyes to a new season of courage.

With all that continues to spin around the world, it’s uplifting to know that we still have an abundance of light left in us; light that transcends, light that heals. And just as the patio string lights have endured shining so brightly over the seasons, the light inside of us is strong, resilient and purposeful. It provides a course of direction, a path to enlightenment and a charge to improve our wellbeing.

Let us move forward in the spirit of making our mental health a daily priority. Let us leave the lights on.