Resilience

For my birthday this year, (January 4th btw, in case anyone wants to start thinking about gifts!) my Dad gave me these flowers to put on my desk at work. And looking at them right now is making do some serious philosophical-izing.

How different are we from flowers. Okay, that's a dumb thing to say, but really...I've had this plant for over 4 months and it shows no sign of giving up and dying. If I don't water it for a few days it begins to wilt, but once I pour some H2o in it, it goes right back to being its perky self. Much like the way humans tend to wilt and fade when they are missing things in their life too.What I'm trying to do is set up a metaphor for feeling listless and limp without having a creative outlet. 


People these days are so busy and live such noisy lives that sometimes it's hard to just relax and absorb the world around you. I know that I can feel heavy and dormant when things don't go my way, and feel like I'm not getting what I need. I feel like I'm just drying up waiting for someone to water me. My petals droop sometimes.


It's important to trim the dead shoots, and give the plant the best possible growing space. If an idea is dead. Move on. You can't spend your whole life trying to make something work that is clearly not going to work. You can't force something to grow out of the ground. It has to be natural. And sometimes as much as you feel like something is a part of you, if it's dragging you down and stunting your growth. You have to cut it. 


But we are resilient. And once that water, or inspiration, or whatever it is that we're looking for, comes around. We go back to how we are supposed to be. Standing tall. Smiling. Happy. 


When I started writing this post, the plant was drooping and not looking so hot, so I gave it some water and already the flowers look revitalized. Things can happen that quickly.