Buds in the waiting

Winter can feel like a dreary trudge: wet, cold, overcast and bleak days, with stark silhouettes of barren trees. The warmth and fruitfulness of the previous season, stripped bare.

Most, if not all, go through these desolate seasons when the heavy blankets of winter circumstance are cast upon us, causing the loss of momentum and driving us off course. Whether slow or challenging times in our personal or business worlds or extremely demanding times that impact on various fronts, it’s easy to lose sight of the path ahead and forge a way forward.

A few weeks back, on one such bleak winter day, I caught sight of our Camellia bush: she was a shining beauty.

Camellias are adapted to flowering in seemingly inhospitable seasons when conditions can be cold, wet and even frosty. By setting many buds that they open in succession over a long period of time, they overcome these challenging conditions. If individual flowers are damaged by such inclement weather, another set of buds are waiting to replace them when conditions moderate. ¹

Life by its very seasonal nature serves up—and sometimes when least expected—this inclement weather, where, what once was flowering is damaged or lost. We tend to expect summer seasons will continue in a progressive upward fashion and are then surprised when the autumns and winters of life come seemingly out of nowhere.

What sets humans apart from Camellia bushes is that we can nurture these “buds in waiting” throughout the winter seasons we experience. In business, it might be client relationships, designing new offerings or developing more efficient systems and our people. Personally, it might mean nurturing past or existing friendships, exploring new interests or engaging in previously rewarding but neglected activities.

When shrouded by depressive winter conditions, just knowing there are fresh buds of growth waiting to bloom, along with those that can be nurtured, provides hope on the way forward, even on the darkest of days.

And just remember, spring will appear, as it always does.

Ray

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www.rayhodge.com.au; +61 403 341 105

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1. https://canr.udel.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/2018/04/12024402/2012_Camellia_Feature.pdf

Bold and italics mine.