Follow the Trees

I've been navigating through some significant transitions over the last few months. I have spent a lot of time reflecting on how I move through this life -- where I'm spending time, how I'm earning income, who I collaborate with. Through these reflections, I realized it was time to leave my job. A job I had been at for 14 years. A place where I had deep relationships with colleagues and clients. A place where I learned a lot, not only about the creative agency world but about myself.

A few years ago, I started noticing themes emerge. Often inspired by nature, these themes would arise as a word or a simple phrase. They would offer support, affirmation or guidance. They might remind me of the energy I was looking to cultivate or a goal I was working towards. I found ways to integrate these themes into my daily life, whether it be by writing them on a post-it note kept at my desk or setting them as my email password. A simple act to help remind me of the theme as I moved through my day.

This fall in the swirl of transition, the theme I heard clearly was "follow the trees." When this theme surfaced, I didn't immediately know what it meant. I've worked with these themes enough to know it's not necessary for me to understand their full meaning right away. This theme’s emergence was a signal to pay attention as the beginning of fall was starting to take hold. I heeded the words on my morning walks, noticing the trees as they shifted and changed through the waning season.

A few weeks later, while on a trip upstate, I sat on the porch of the cabin I was staying at and took in all the trees around me. I sipped in their brilliant colors and radiance. I marveled at the hues of orange, yellow and red. I watched as the leaves fluttered in the wind like golden paillettes.

As I watched these trees at the peak of the fall season, I began to wonder what someone might think if they didn't know anything about the cycle that trees move through. Coming upon all the vibrant hues, it might seem as if that tree was at its peak, its apex, the top of its game. And as the leaves began to fall, it might seem that that full-color brilliance was the tree's final high-point, never to be witnessed again.

However, we understand the cycle of trees. We know that the tree must shed its glorious leaves at the peak of fall. The tree must retreat, conserving its resources to prepare for a new cycle of growth. And when the days draw longer, and the temperature warms, the tree will be able to grow larger, more vibrant, more expansive.

I realized that's how I had been viewing myself in my own career. I had avoided making a change out of a fear that perhaps this was the best it was going to be. I had internalized the belief that I was at the top of my game and there was nowhere to go. What became clear to me in these moments with the trees is that I needed to do some of my own shedding. I needed to let the leaves fall at a time that might have seemed wild to those who didn't know my own cycle. I needed to take time to retreat and restore to nourish my own future growth. I realized that I, like a tree, move through cycles.

So perhaps over the next few days, find some time to get quiet. See what messages might be pushing through to help guide or support you in your next cycle.