Have you ever seen a tree in the Winter that looks like it’s dead? Its leaves have all dropped to the floor, crunching and decaying under your feet while the tree next to it is still completely green. In school, we learn the technical name for this – deciduous and evergreen – but we don’t learn the lesson it has to tell us about human nature.
Sometimes in life, you feel kind of left behind. You look around and there are people getting married, in their perfect job, getting promoted, starting a family or travelling. You wonder if you have been living in the wrong order. You’re stuck and can’t seem to move forward.
That deciduous tree isn’t getting FOMO over his evergreen cousin. He trusts his process because he knows that directing his precious energy to growing strong roots and absorbing nutrients from the soil will mean he will bloom brighter in the Spring.
Sometimes, the growth can seem invisible. We can’t see the results immediately. Yet, each day we continue to build a network that reaches far and wide beneath the surface. Our relationships, our knowledge and skills, our resilience, bravery and kindness – it’s a tapestry of beautiful, internal strength made up of tiny choices every day. When we can see this and we choose to lean into that growth, to focus on the truely essential, it’s only a matter of time before we bloom.
