Embrace Your Pace

This is the time of year when leaves are piling up on the ground.

One tree in the distance was already completely bare.

Others have hardly started to turn colors.

Many are somewhere in the middle of the process.

When a tree holds its leaves for longer than the others, we don’t say it has “attachment issues” or that “struggles to let go.”

We don’t say a tree has a “challenge with transitions.”

In the spring, some trees remain bare while flowers bloom on others.

We don’t call the trees that bloom in June “late bloomers.”

We don’t judge one tree as better or worse than any other tree.

We let a tree be a tree.

Each tree offers its flower or fruits in its due time.

In fact, if all trees were to bloom or bear fruit at the same time we would be too overloaded with the bounty to fully appreciate each one for its unique offering.

If every tree were to shed its leaves at the same time, the turn of the seasons would be abrupt and jarring.

Part of the beauty of this season — of all the seasons — is that nature doesn’t kick into gear overnight. We get to witness its slow unfolding.

The beauty is in the slow pace.

And yet when it comes to people, we have an expectation that transformation should be instant. We pathologize anything that doesn’t conform to the dominant expectations.

How much time and energy do you spend trying to “fix yourself” to conform to cultural standards that may not match your rhythms?

What if we stopped pathologizing our natural rhythms?

What if holding on longer was not evidence of an attachment issue but simply the wiring of your tree?

What if blooming later in the season wasn’t a sign of fear or procrastination, but simply the nature of your tree?

What if there’s nothing wrong and nothing to fix?

What might be possible if you embraced your pace?

At the bare minimum, how much time and energy would that free up?

Who would you be, what would you do, if you weren’t trying to fix yourself?

We let a tree be a tree.

Just like a tree, we are a part of nature.

What if you embraced your pace?

in slow unfolding
nature’s beauty emerges
let yours do the same