Learn What you Need to Adapt, Nurturing Your Growth Like Nature's Resilient Spirit

I often wonder how seedlings feel as they emerge from the soil for the first time. Experiencing the first light of day, the cold of night, an early frost. Do they feel fearful of the open expanse, or do they instinctively know they must keep pushing out of the comfort and warmth of the earth to grow?

“Growth and comfort do not coexist” Ginni Rometty

Understanding we cannot grow without discomfort brings us to a crossroad. The crossroad is where we tend to feel stuck, restless, or unsure. Remaining in the comfort and familiarity of the soil is enticing, but it also entails staying in the darkness. While stepping into the unknown carries risks, the potential rewards and the light ahead could make the journey worthwhile.

What to do? How do we choose?

Observing nature shows us how it learns to adapt. It shows us that even in the most hostile environments, it adjusts. Learning to change and transform to survive, to increase resilience in relentless conditions, knowing it must endure unknown conditions to grow.

Last week, I was a guest on Sue Reid’s podcast, Building Confidence. It had been a while since I had spoken about leaving my role as Chief of Staff. During the conversation, the feelings of discomfort and vulnerability came flooding back. Leaving the trajectory I thought I had intentionally created over the last decade seemed unimaginable.

“We can do hard things” Glennon Doyle

On reflection, the ‘comfort’ I had created around me was a superficial and specious environment, surrounded by material embrace but always in the darkness.

The process of emerging from the earth doesn't have to be a dramatic event. 

As human beings, akin to nature, we require nurturing through kindness and the freedom to unfold at our own pace.

To unfold, we must be intentional and learn what we need to adapt. What can you surround yourself with that supports and nurtures you? Who do you need around you to motivate and inspire you?

“Do one thing that scares you each day” Eleanor Roosevelt

If our friends, the plants, the trees, the rivers, and the seas can adapt, so can we. And we can do it with intention, with meaning and with love.