Living at the Speed of a Flower

 Hello March!

    I'm at the age where the months seem both to drag on forever and fly past with the speed of a jet simultaneously. I don't know if having busy months contributes to those feelings or if it just results from something else. 

    I like to look forward, sometimes a couple months ahead, sometimes years into the future, but last year and this past month, even, has been teaching me to slow down and take it a day at a time. I call it living at the speed of a flower. What do I mean by that?

    When I was very little, I didn't keep time by a calendar. I kept time by what was going on around me. I always knew that it was March when I saw daffodils blooming. Before that, it was simply winter, but daffodils were a herald of Spring.

    Flowers aren't in a hurry. They don't have to be anywhere. Their job is simply to grow. They are reliant on the rain and good soil, but they don't have a will of their own. They don't start thinking one day, "Gosh, I'm behind in schedule. I should hurry and bloom." They take their time and when the time is right, they bloom. 

    I know there are certain things that have to be done by a certain time, but I know that there are also timelines that we impose on ourselves. I'm not saying we should disregard our responsibilities, but there are things we don't have to do, we just think we have to do them. It would be nice to do them, but they are not necessary. We are always in a rush somewhere, to do something, but I wonder.... What would life be if we lived life at the speed of a flower? I don't know, but I'd like to find out. 

- Julia Garcia / Arysta Henry