Welp. While we gained an hour of sleep, the sun is setting super early — and now I’m officially running in the dark. Gone are the glorious autumn scenes like the one above, replaced instead by a few feet of sidewalk illuminated by my flashlight. Usually this is a tough transition for me. As a highly visual person, having to miss out on the height of fall’s colorful performance during my runs is particularly tough for me. Not to mention the added layers of reflective gear, lack of ear buds/music and the need for hyper-awareness of my surroundings…it’s just not my favorite.

But tonight I noticed something. While I couldn’t see everything I wanted, my other under-utilized senses kicked in. Just by breathing in, I could tell which neighbors were drying laundry, smoking a pipe on the deck, spray painting a project outside or fixing dinner on the grill. Without my ear buds, I could hear the rhythm of my feet hitting the payment, the squeal of delight of a little one greeting their dad in the driveway after a day at work, a girl practicing her cheerleading outside. I actually had a really wonderful run. And all was not lost on the visual front — I was pleasantly surprised to discover that several folks along my route have already hung their Christmas lights.

It was a much-needed reminder that each season presents unique blessings as long as we’re open to receiving them.