Before You Go Any Farther…

There’s something about this time of year that makes me look backward before I look ahead.

Maybe it’s the cooler mornings. Maybe it’s watching the garden begin to quiet down, or seeing the first leaves let go without making much of a fuss about it.

Autumn has always felt like a season of release to me.

But I think before we decide what we’re ready to let go of, there’s something else we should do first.

We should look at it.

Really look at it.

Because we spend so much of the year moving forward. There’s always something else that needs tending. Another problem to solve. Another plan to make. Another thing we thought we’d have finished by now.

And somewhere in all that moving, we forget to notice how far we’ve already come.

Some things grew exactly the way we hoped they would.

Some things barely made it out of the ground.

Some things surprised us completely.

And some things we poured our hearts into simply never became what we thought they would.

That doesn’t necessarily mean they were wasted.

A garden can teach you just as much through what doesn’t grow as it does through what does grow.

I think life is much the same.

So maybe before we start deciding what needs to be released this season, we sit with what the last few months have given us.

The beautiful parts and the difficult ones.

The things that worked.

The things that absolutely did not.

The plans that changed.

The doors that opened that we never even knew were there.

And maybe instead of asking ourselves whether we did enough, we ask something a little different:

Before you go any farther… what did all of this teach you?

What do you want to carry with you?

What have you outgrown?

What are you still holding simply because you’ve carried it for so long?

And what are you finally ready to put down?

Trees don’t seem to spend much time arguing with autumn.

When it’s time, they let go.

Maybe we don’t have to have everything figured out before we do the same.

Maybe sometimes it’s enough to be grateful for what grew, learn from what didn’t, and make a little room for whatever comes next.

Until next time,

Mary

Of Herb & Stone 🌿