Growth Lessons from Plants

I’ve been reading a bit about plants while for the umpteenth time I try to convince myself I need to get me some plants because maybe that’s the one thing I’ll love properly. So, anyway I read that sometimes plants die because they are root bound and need more room to grow. Poor plant is sometimes being held hostage in a pot that is too small for its spirit and it starts dying.

We all need room to grow sometimes. Room from work…room from relationships…room from our own self-induced limitations. Because we can all feel suffocated by the very things that are supposed to be helping us thrive. And we begin to wilt. We begin to suffer under the weight of our circumstances and lose pieces of ourselves as a result.

Knowing when to give your self space is hard.

Actually creating that space is even harder.

Because untangling your self from certain confines can be a really painful process. And sometimes you’ll move your plant to a new pot, but the situation will actually get a lot worse before it gets better.

Things will get really messy for a while…parts of the plant will break and need time to heal…and even once the mess is all cleaned up; you may not entirely be sure if it is going to survive.

So you just have to wait.

Because giving your self room often means feeling a bit lonely in unfamiliar territory.

It often means sitting through discomfort and being treated with care.

It often means just having enough grace to let time play its part.

But the good news is…that your plant will eventually start to show signs of life again. Slowly but surely, as each day passes, new leaves will grow…its branches will mend…and its spirit will start reaching. *Groot*

Slowly but surely, it will start healing.

Thinking about this really made me realise this is exactly where I’m at right now…I’m extending myself some grace and trying not to push or force things to happen now simply because I feel guilty for not being as active as I’m probably expected to be.

And if reading about plants has taught me anything…it’s that some things in life really can’t be rushed…

And coming back to life is one them.

*This is my friend Babs’ well-loved plant*