Stripping it all back
Interesting how nature can mimic life.
One of my loves is growing things either in my vegetable or flower garden. Recently I have started to get into growing roses. They represent me taking care of myself and loving myself. So I was researching the best way to prune roses because I was told by pruning them they would actually get stronger and I would see more blooms. As I started my research I was very surprised by what I found. The process in the first few videos I found scared me. I thought no this can’t be right these videos are wrong. As I continued to research they all seemed to have one common theme, strip everything back bare. View video
Remove every leaf and cut back bad stems or bad extensions. Cut it all back, remove everything, won’t this damage the plant how can this be right, I thought? This just seemed a little excessive but if this is how you do it, so be it. I started the process and immediately stopped, staring at the first two now naked stems I had just stripped back. This can’t be right, take everything off, everything, all the growth, this doesn’t make sense.
I wondered if I was destroying my plant, all the hard work and progress I had made. It was as if I was erasing everything I had worked so hard to achieve. I had to do more research and make sure this was correct. Again everything I read and saw said this was the correct procedure to improve plant, health, growth, stability and beauty.
In that moment that’s when it hit me. It’s funny how nature can mimic what we go through in life. I thought about what I had gone through the last few years of my life especially 2020. This process to improve my roses forced me to have faith and find the courage to follow through with this process.
Hitting my emotional bottom in my life forced me to look at myself. I had to find a new way, a new process to move forward in life. I needed a different path so I could become the best version of myself. It started with stripping everything away. All the chatter form other people, my pride, my ego, all opinions of social media, remove everything. I needed to focus on the roots of my life. What made me branch out in the different directions I was heading. It was the hardest thing I ever did but I stripped is all everything down to the bear me.
Links to books
The Mountain is You by Brianna West – https://amzn.to/3g2Sp2l
You are never alone by Max Lucado – https://amzn.to/2QkVrEb
Love yourself like your life depends o it by Kamal Ravikant –https://amzn.to/3d6unlc
Now I was able to use the internet, YouTube and books to see how to care for my roses. This stripping back of me I enlisted some guides, first my pastor to help strip back the spiritual me and help me get on the path God wants for me. Then a therapist to help guide me mentally uncovering the roots of metal processes. This would help me not only understand my behaviors but give me the guidance to cut away dead branches and bad growth. Allow me to build new behaviors and shape new growth patterns. This truly helped and opened me up to the whys behind who I was and who I wanted to be. I dived into standard books and audio consuming everything about how to reshape me and my growth. How to care for me moving forward. This would be my stripping back and my way to create the best blossoms of my life.
This was not easy it has by far been the hardest part of my journey thus far. There have been some set backs and still ups and downs. Just like my actual roses even though I stripped them back and right now they are doing great I still have to care for them. I still have to consistently nurture them. Some days the leaves are drooping and looking sad other days it looks vibrant, alive with blooms peaking out ready to explode with beauty. It’s the same for me I know I’m going to have some bad days but now I know how to take care of me and have better tools and knowledge to move forward each day being the best me possible.
Think about where you are right now in your life and relationships. Sure some things are good just like my roses they didn’t look bad before this process. I ask you don’t you want the absolute best for you? To become the best version of you and moving forward growing and getting better each year. You will see yourself blossom in new ways some you never thought possible. You will see your relationships change and blossom. It’s going to take courage, consistency, and a lot of hard work but your future outcome will be beautiful and amazing. Strip it all back become the best you possible.
