Changing Seasons

There is a tree in my garden, a Japanese Maple, that intrigues me. It is a beautiful green tree in Summer and as Autumn approaches it is the first plant in my garden to herald the change of season. The leaves change to a breathtaking display of red, orange and yellow and this tree becomes the focal point in my garden as all the other plants slowly come around to the change of season that the maple is celebrating with such vibrance.

The leaves eventually curl and become brown and crisp, but they don’t fall. When the rest of the garden is starkly naked in its display of rest and rejuvenation for the coming year, the maple holds onto those leaves throughout winter, almost as if the change it so eagerly announced has now become a daunting task and it is easier to hold onto what it has despite the withered dried nature of what those leaves have become. It is only in spring when the new leaves start shooting that they eventually push the brown, dead leaves from the branch, forcing space to embrace the new season of growth.

In a similar way, I recently moved house. Despite all the logical reasons for the move, in those final weeks before the move I found myself holding onto all that old house meant to me, sad at the thought of not seeing that maple tree start a new Spring. But I packed the boxes, I booked the moving van and eventually took my heavy heart to the new house. What a revelation, once I slept in that new home! I suddenly discovered a whole world of possibilities that were not available in the old house. Suddenly I dropped my old dead leaves and started growing into my new space.

Have you ever felt the need to make a change, to welcome a new season and then just as quickly felt the scariness of letting go of what you know? Is it frustrating you that no matter how stuck you are, you just can’t seem to take the final step that will allow the change to take hold and be permanent?

Perhaps you need a coach to help you think through all that you are changing while you hang onto those old leaves. Set the milestones and small steps that need to be taken to slowly develop new buds. Sometimes we need to put the growth in motion so that when it comes time to push forward and reach out to a new season, dropping the old leaves is merely part of a process that is natural and exciting.

Start the process, contact a coach and find the vision of the new season you want to create, develop the steps to get there and that new season may be easier than you thought. If you would like a free sample session with me to find out more about how coaching can help you, book one by clicking here.