Last year for Mother’s Day, my dear family purchased a beautiful succulent arrangement for me. It looked absolutely magnificent- like it had been poached directly from a Pinterest page! Despite my black thumb, I was thrilled. I found a perfect home for it and would often stare at it in amazement. I tended to it with great pride. I loved the succulents! I cared for them and maybe even sang to them, totally buying into my new identity as a crazy plant lady.
It didn’t take long, maybe a week of two, for the delusions of grandeur to dissolve. The leaves began to wilt, rot and fall from their stems with reckless abandon. Devastated, I did all that I could to revive my plant. I researched ad nauseum. Was I over-watering or under-watering? Were they getting adequate sunlight? Too much sunlight? WHAT WAS I DOING WRONG????
After plucking away some sad and shriveled carcasses from the once-radiant arrangement, I noticed one of my jades was in major distress. It had rotted at its base, leaning away from me and dangling over the edge of the pot. It was as if it was quite literally repelled by my efforts! I knew it was time. I pulled the plug on my dream of being a master succulent gardener. I moved the pot outside and left what remained of the plants there to die.
What happened next, is nothing short of a miracle. A relatively small miracle, but a miracle none the less! My husband, having seen the detached and hopeless jade rolling about the asphalt, gently placed it back into the planter. It was not long after that I began to notice a new spark of life in my forsaken planter. Not only did the jade take roots, he and his succulent buddies began to thrive! They even began to multiply! Some of the fallen leaves had propagated, making the most delightfully, cute, baby succulents!
As far as I can tell, my decision to let the plants go was the best thing that ever happened to them. And when I mean “let go”, I mean really “let go.” I don’t water them, and I certainly don’t provide the best drainage situation for them. Based on some preliminary google searches, I am doing everything wrong. Yet, not only have they survived, they have thrived and multiplied!
Letting go, is hard, y’all. There are certainly times in life when we are meant to dig in our heels and cling tightly- hold fast to our dreams and embrace the struggle- grip mightily to the proverbial succulent as if our life depends on it. There are other times when letting go is the best course of action. Perhaps this means making a career change. Releasing a toxic friendship. Maybe even letting go of a resentment. These moments are not always easy.
Often times, the things we struggle to release are the very things that are intertwined into our identity. We fear we might not recognize ourselves without them. But when we let go, take a deep breath and survey our surroundings, we often get to witness a miracle in our own life. A new fulfillment, a new friendship, or a new peace, all taking root in our new environment.
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