Reflections on a New Year
It’s a New Year, and I’m celebrating growth today with this Black Raven ZZ Plant, who is entering 2022 with vigor and enthusiasm.
Reflecting back on last year… it’s a bit overwhelming. I can’t be the only one who feels like we’ve just been on a rollercoaster, with wild highs and lows made up of shared and personal experiences that were navigated together and individually. There has been burnout, fatigue, fear, frustration, and so much more, but many of us also have a lot to be thankful for, and to celebrate. We’ve found joy in the small things, grown in ways we didn’t expect, developed skills and talents, and learned more about ourselves and our interests. I, personally, am thankful that I was able to spend so much time indulging my love for plants - it has always brought me joy and fulfillment to engage with nature and living things, and being able to lean into that during recent challenging periods brought me much-needed calm and peace.
Through my hardest human moments, the plants kept growing, kept blooming, kept unfurling new leaves, sprouting new roots, and most of all, they kept me engaged in mindfulness and self-care as I cared for them. There were orchids in bloom to brighten my hardest days, and Monsteras unfurling new leaves to heighten my best ones. I’ve spent weeks closely watching new growth emerge and mature, and observed plants entering and coming out of dormancy or flowering cycles.
This will continue in 2022 and beyond, but in this moment, I am thankful for the reminder that growth is what keeps us going. It doesn’t necessarily follow a consistent path, and sometimes it’s slower than we expect - other times faster - but even when we don’t appear to be in active growth ourselves, it doesn’t mean there isn’t something going on unobserved, below the surface, whether we’re consciously aware of it or not.
So, as I admire these chartreuse shoots emerging in the darkest, coldest part of the year, I look forward to the opportunities this year will provide for anticipated or unexpected growth, among my plants, within myself, across our communities, and beyond.
Happy New Year, plant friends!
Matthew and Stephen