Ice, wind, darkness.
All these stunt growth in nature.
Humans are the only species on earth that can feed on hardship and turn it into growth.
But it can go either way…
Hardship has to be recognised and chosen,
Else it festers into victimhood.
Today I sat at the side of a still reservoir and watched the wind russle through a grove of tall Scot’s pine,
I thought about how much we have to learn from pine trees.
Many have been around longer than us.
With minimal effort, they grow a pinecone
from a tiny nub into a perfectly symmetrical design,
In just a few months
With nothing but sunlight and water.
The tree grows hundreds of pine cones, cultivating many “small bets”
which they then drop over decades.
They let the world do the heavy lifting.
They may lose branches, sometimes whole limbs
But it doesn’t matter.
They have more.
They can grow more.
So long as the roots are solid.
When the weather turns,
Pine trees lose curb growth to conserve energy
More than half the battle is just placement and environment.
A tree that starts in sandy soil
May pay the price,
Even decades later
And collapse under one strong wind
But even then,
a fallen tree can make a U-turn and keep growing up towards the light
Inch by inch
Great things take time, I just need the patience of the pine tree.
