June 2024: Go At Your Own Pace

Hello, June-

"Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished." - Lao Tzu 

The native flowers in our backyard prairie are slowly - bud by bud - beginning to bloom. Every morning I walk through it and try to notice all the overnight changes: the new flowers, the insects who reside in them, and the way the morning light creates shadows in between the leaves.

This week, I noticed the yellow Coreopsis starting to bloom. While some of the flowers were completely blossomed, a few were still working their way open. There was a brief moment when I thought about helping one of the little buds out...it was so close to being open that I wanted to expedite the process and pull the delicate petals out. Then I paused, and let it be. I was reminded of the invaluable lesson of "readiness." We cannot rush processes - whether it be our own healing, mending a strained relationship; or in this case, forcing a little bud to become a flower before it's ready. If I would have rushed that little bud and pulled its petals open before it was time, it likely would have died.

Throughout my life, I have had moments on both ends of the spectrum: being impatient and rushing something (out of anxiety) before I was truly ready; and also stalling, using "I'm not ready" as an excuse to stay stagnant. I had my own business for two full years - whilst managing a 9-5pm job, before making the leap into full-time entrepreneurship. I grappled with the illusion of "readiness" daily. I created benchmarks to determine my time to launch: "When I save this amount of money, I will quit my 9-5pm job." "When I have secured this many clients..." "When I get through this big project..."

Often, those milestones would occur and I would remain. Now, with hindsight, I was actually ready to make the leap a year sooner than I did. The blossoming flowers have much to teach us about the beautiful in-between, liminal space. A space where time, rest, and growth occur at its own, unique pace. And much like these flowers, we don't have to hurry or stall; the universe has a plan, and in its own time, we will blossom too.

Wishing you an abundant month of going at your own pace,

 Lucy