Life changes. Sometimes by choice. Sometimes by force.
Sometimes, we choose to move. We start a new school. We change jobs. We travel, fall in love, begin something new.
Sometimes life makes the choice for us. Our job suddenly ends. Our relationship takes an unexpected turn. Our home no longer feels safe. An opportunity is lost.
By choice or force, we are often moved. Someone or something makes us feel:
Transplanted.
When change happens, it helps to remember:
Plants don't get to choose when and where they're transplanted.
Someone decides the pot is too small. The roots have outgrown the container. The soil isn't providing what the plant needs anymore. So the plant is pulled from the dirt.
It can look like destruction.
Roots exposed.
Soil falling away.
Everything familiar suddenly disappears.
But the goal isn't to kill the plant. The goal is to give the plant room to grow.
Sometimes, as humans, we outgrow our containers. A version of ourselves that once felt perfect suddenly no longer fits. We start to feel restless, uncomfortable, confined, and restricted.
We think something is wrong. But maybe nothing is wrong. Maybe we've just outgrown our containers.
A friend of mine often tells me:
“Grow where you're planted.”
It’s wonderful and often necessary advice. When I experience a change, I spend most of my energy wishing I was back in my old soil.
To grow where I’m planted, I must root and reach.
It’s my job to find the sunlight in every set of circumstances that come my way. It is my responsibility to adjust and adapt.
We don't always get to choose the circumstances of our transitions. But we do get to choose how we respond to changing landscapes.
A transplant can be traumatic or transformational. The new container may be better. The new soil may be richer.
We won’t know until we grow.
Life changes by choice or force. Grow where you’re planted.
