Every day is a spring.
Spring is often named after a specific moment: the moment of transition between seasons, the moment when the earth and sky begin a new cycle… But, upon closer reflection, spring can be present every day, if our hearts are at peace enough to recognize it, alert enough to embrace it, and courageous enough to live differently from who we were yesterday.
Content and design: Phuoc Anh
18/02/2026
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Spring is often named after a specific moment: the moment of transition between seasons, the moment when nature opens a new cycle…But, upon closer reflection,Spring can be present every day, if our hearts are at peace enough to recognize it, clear-headed enough to accept it, and courageous enough to live differently from who we were yesterday.
In the early days of the new year, when peach and apricot blossoms burst into bloom, people often talk about new things. A new career plan, a new place to live, a new feeling… But does something new always mean something we've never had or possessed before? Not always. Sometimes, newness begins with tidying up the old. We clean the house, arrange the furniture, and put away unnecessary items. This may seem like a very ordinary thing, but it's actually a way of having a dialogue with ourselves: keep what's worth keeping, and let go of what's time to leave.
Memories also need to be tidied up, put in their proper place. There are sad events, regrets, and hurts from the past year that, if left jumbled in the mind, will weigh heavily on one's heart as one enters the new year. Spring offers us the opportunity to look back, organize, and gently close the compartments of memories that are already full.
Therefore, the new year doesn't make us older. If anything, it's only added worry if we don't change our way of life. But when we learn to let go, to slow down, we can be younger than we were last year. Younger in our thinking, in how we see people, in how we face life. Younger because we no longer cling to old, tiring things.
The Spring of the Year of the Horse 2026 is associated with the image of a horse. Horses are born to run on vast grasslands, to let the wind blow through their manes, and to let their hooves clatter on the tender grass. But in human life, how many can live so freely? We are like horses that tie ourselves to invisible reins. Some reins come from responsibility, from duty, from unavoidable constraints. Other reins are self-tied: the gaze of others, the heavy judgments and prejudices, the social stereotypes we carry our whole lives without ever pausing to ask ourselves if it's necessary to sacrifice our own joy and happiness. If we pay too much attention to the gaze of others, it becomes a distorted mirror. We look at ourselves in it, and gradually forget our true selves. Prejudice, if heard too often, becomes a rigid, iron jaw, clamping down on our thoughts, making us afraid to express ourselves, afraid to be different, afraid to live true to what we believe. These constraints silently seep into our minds day after day, leaving us weary with each passing day.
The new year is the perfect time to loosen the reins. Of course, not completely, not throwing everything away, because life still needs structure and responsibility. We only loosen the burdensome ropes, so that the horse within us can still know what freedom is, what it means to gallop, to toss its mane... Freedom isn't about doing whatever you want. Freedom, first and foremost, is peace of mind, the feeling of not having to live to please everyone.
One common misconception in modern life is that we pay too much attention to what we hear but too little to truly care. We focus on what others say, on comparisons and rivalries, on the noise of social media, but we rarely pay attention to our own feelings, to the simple joys of a family meal, to the peace of sitting quietly on a New Year's morning, watching the flowers and leaves rustle, feeling the fragrant spring breeze…
Focusing less on what you see and more on what you care about—isn't that the most necessary New Year's greeting in this day and age? Focus on what makes you better and more profound. Focus on relationships that bring you peace of mind. Focus on the work you are doing, with kindness and diligence. When you focus enough on what you care about, everything else will naturally become less distracting.
"Every day is a spring," therefore, is not just a beautiful slogan to display at the beginning of the year. Let's think deeply about it as a message for life. And ask ourselves each morning: Can I live a little more lightly today than yesterday? Can I be more forgiving towards others, and towards myself? Can I do a small but kind thing, instead of chasing after grand and unattainable things?
The new year is also a time to open our hearts. Open our hearts to embrace the new, but also to accept imperfections. In truth, no one enters the new year with a perfect life. Everyone carries with them flaws, worries, broken pieces… But that's okay; we can't make everything perfect instantly, but we can open our hearts to become less closed off, less rigid, less lonely…
On the second day of the Lunar New Year, when life still feels very much like spring and the New Year, when greetings are still brimming with sincerity, perhaps it's the perfect time to remind ourselves: Live as if every day is a spring day.
Open your heart, my dear! Let spring not only be in the wind, in the clouds, in the flowers, in the leaves, but also remain in every day we live!
