Albert Camus once wrote, “In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.”
On the surface, Camus is talking about weather.
But look closer, and you realize he’s using winter as a metaphor for the difficult seasons of life. The ones that feel cold, heavy, and overwhelming.
Winter is everything around you that drains your energy or weighs on your mind:
You need to make more money.
You’re wondering when you’ll find a spouse.
The weather is dull and uninspiring.
Responsibilities feel endless.
You feel lonely.
You question your career choices.
Your health needs improvement.
In winter, it’s easy to feel like everything is closing in on you at once.
But Camus points to something deeper.
Even in the harshest winter, he says, there is an invincible summer within you.
It’s a quiet, persistent source of warmth and perspective that external circumstances can’t touch.
These are the small but meaningful things we often overlook:
You might be living in a beautiful city.
You might live in a country full of opportunity.
Or maybe simply living on Earth is enough to feel grateful.
You have food to eat.
Your family is by your side.
Your health is holding you up.
You’re alive, and that alone is miraculous.
Or maybe it’s just you being more present.
This “summer” isn’t found outside of you. It’s found in awareness and in gratitude.
No matter what storms you’re facing or how heavy life becomes, you have a warmth inside you that cannot be taken away.
You can always choose to tap into your invincible summer.