You Can’t Rush Your Healing
The past year has been a season of intense healing for me …. as well as significant personal growth.
And I’m facing the reality that both are excruciatingly slow!
I frequently feel heavy and restless because I’m not ‘there” yet (wherever “there” is) - in my relationships, in my emotional stability, in my grieving, in my business, etc.
This week marked two years since I was invited by the universe to leave my corporate job and decided to launch this wild idea of Regenerative Workplaces.
I’ve made some meaningful progress and I’ve also had plenty of disappointments, setbacks, rejection, confusion, and fear. And I’ve been growing this business while our country experienced an extremely polarizing election and administration change … and I suffered the loss of my mom … and I have tackled significant dysfunctions in my marriage….
I want this season of instability and change and growth to be done already!
It’s been gritty and dirty and painful …. and SLOW.
But… I can also look back and see the beauty that has emerged… that is still evolving.
Each day I feel stronger. Clearer. More grounded. More alive. More awake. Proud… and humble… All while feeling a bit sore … and impatient.
It’s got me thinking about nature.
Life = Nature
For most of my adult life, I have loved (and kinda hated) gardening.
When I lived in Alaska I became a certified Master Gardener. I had a green house and four raised garden beds and bordering beds all around my house. I cultivated all sorts of vegetables, raspberries, and perennial flowers. I suffered a lot of loss …. to moose (which LOVE to eat garden veggies) and bugs and bad weather and poor soil…. but I also had many abundant harvests.
Moose doing what moose do in gardens in Alaska… You can’t exactly stop them!
When I moved to Colorado I had to adapt to entirely different soil and climate and pests… and I haven’t had great yards… So I’ve mostly focused on annual flower pots and some perennial flower beds. This year I didn’t have much discretionary money, so I planted seeds instead of starters…. And seeds grow excruciatingly slow … At least half of my seeds didn’t sprout at all. Squirrels dug them up and weeds choked them out. And aphids have killed some of my perennials… But I’m also starting to see some blooms, and every flower fills my heart with joy.
Zinnias I grew from seeds this year
Do you see where I’m going with this?
Nature can’t be rushed (and neither can life)
The truth is that being in the dirt - tilling, planting, watering, weeding, fertilizing and fighting pests - are visceral reminders of life itself. It’s no wonder that Jesus and so many other spiritual teachers frequently use nature as metaphors in their teachings.
Harvesting takes work, and it takes time. And nature can’t be be rushed.
Yes… we have a part to play. There is a lovely dance between the gardener and the garden - each doing its part. The gardener has to plant and nurture. The gardener also has to wait and accept what is out of her control as seeds and soil and water and sun do their work. And it sucks. But it’s also beautiful.
Do you ever find yourself at that place where you want change NOW? Where you want to “BE THERE” already? I’m afraid that our instant information microwave drive-thru next day delivery culture has slowly killed the part of our souls that understand deep work takes time.
So I’m learning to slow down, to find beauty in the emergence, to savor the anticipation, to TRUST the process - even when it is taking longer than I want.
Whether it’s flowers and vegetables or caterpillars and butterflies or the miracle of birth - the emergence of life happens when it happens and no amount of our will or our effort or our hoping and praying can rush it. Eventually the flowers do bloom and the butterflies do emerge and the babies are born - just on time. Nature is 100% out of our control.
And so is life….
And guess what?
SO IS WORK.
The Regenerative Process
The work I do to change (or build) regenerative work cultures also takes time.
It’s not a one time workshop.
It’s not a six week program.
It’s not a quick fix.
It’s spiritual and magical. It’s effort and prayer. It's investment and hope. It’s grind and dedication and being in the dirt… and it’s wonder and awe and watching something brand new emerge from the dirt.
The Regenerative Process takes time
I’d love to be part of your journey of emergence. I have what it takes - a spiritual, natural, in the dirt with you approach as well as plenty of experience in the trenches. I’m learning from my own emergence and I’d be honored to cultivate yours with you.
I gather others who are interested in learning more or just sharing their own regenerative process at a monthly roundtable that is completely free and all about conversations and community building. If you'd like to explore this, come check out the next one: https://events.humanitix.com/regenerative-workplaces-roundtable
And if you’re in a place in your own journey through life that feels like a huge “not there yet” sort of ache. I invite you to stop, look around, look back, take a deep breath, and savor the emergence and trust the process. I promise… nature knows what it’s doing. And you are RIGHT where you are meant to be.