AS YOU LEARN TO FLY, MAY YOU ALSO LEARN TO REST
As you learn to fly, may you also learn to rest. Both will prepare you for the journey ahead.
Even though this journey might not involve literal flight, as a butterfly's journey does, we can still observe how the same butterfly that learns to embrace new skills and take action is also the one that learns to rest as it moves through each day.
In whatever season you are in right now, there will be times when continuous effort is necessary, and there will also be times when extended rest is necessary for rejuvenation. This is valuable to remember because, depending on outside influences or how you view yourself, you might begin to feel that you should be doing more when what you're actually craving is rest. Or, at times, you might feel that you shouldn't try something new because you don't want to be regarded as doing too much. Wherever you find yourself, remember that finding the balance between resting and flying doesn't mean following a perfectly linear track.
Even when spring follows winter every year, these seasons may feel different for you every year, as they may feel different person to person. Each of our journeys are different, filled with highs and lows, moments of action and moments of stillness, and the way we move and flow through different seasons will change as we change.Instead of being critical of the fluctuations in how you move through a season, try to see them as an example of how you’re learning to embrace adaptability. Recognize these changes as a way of learning how you’re adjusting in a new space.
No matter what you were doing a year ago, not every winter has to be the same. Not every spring has to be the same. You might look back and find that a year ago, you were learning to fly, and now you're learning to rest. You might find that you have spent decades in the liminal space in between and now you're ready to fly. What matters is that you know it's not about putting action and stillness on perfect scales and making sure you follow a strict schedule for yourself moving forward. Instead, this idea of recognizing that there will be room to fly and room to rest is about realizing the capacity for your own adaptability as you move through every new unknown and encounter every new space.
Life is rarely linear, and the more you can accept this, the more you can free yourself from needing to figure everything out at once. We all have different capacities and will encounter growth in different ways.
Let this process of realizing there's room for stillness and action help you be kind to yourself as you move through life's many changes, knowing this is true for others you encounter on the journey, too.
More in this week's series called "Moving Through the Landscape of Life", only with a subscription in the Storyteller App.
More tomorrow…
Sincerely,
Morgan Harper Nichols
@thestorytellerco
@morganharpernichols
