There is a plant that sits on the buffet table. She is a small ficus, the first non-cactus plant we have welcomed into our home.
A few weeks ago, I witnessed a little miracle. A new branch was shooting up the center. I watched as, each day, it slowly unfurled, its leaves a pale green. From tightly curled and vulnerable, it eventually unrolled and showed itself off.
The branch beside it started slowly started turning yellow. Despite ample light and adequate water and despite being beside other healthy branches, it started withering away. The leaves all eventually turned brown until the most humane thing to do was to cut off the branch entirely. The leftover branches stood strong and continued to thrive.
I wondered aloud: Why? And my husband explained that with the birth of the new branch, the pot could no longer support four lives. It could just hold three. If we wanted to keep all four branches alive and well, we would need to move the plant to a bigger pot.
Are parts of you withering away where you are? Do you want all parts of you to thrive? Do you want to birth new possibilities—as my ficus did?
Maybe it’s time to consider that you may be outgrowing your “pot.” You may be outgrowing old ideas about yourself or your life. You might need to humanely cut off parts of your life that’s not working anymore. Or you might consider exploring a bigger space for you and the possibilities that are open for you.
