Lessons in self care from the trees

“The trees are about to show us how lovely it is to let things go.” -anonymous

This past week, through a lesson in my daughter’s remote learning, I had the opportunity to brush up on the science behind why trees drop their leaves in the fall.

Trees are sensitive to changes in their environment. When the days began to grow shorter and produce less light, this is a sign for the tree to begin to prepare for winter and halt the production of chlorophyll, the pigment that turns their leaves green. But, not only do they stop making chlorophyll, they pull what they have already produced in the leaf back into the body of the tree. This allows them to store the already created chlorophyll and use it to make it though the winter. They don’t waste anything. No energy or effort on their part is for nothing.

Once the chlorophyll is gone the leaves show the colors that were hidden underneath. Eventually the tree severs the connection with these leaves that are no longer providing them value and they drop off the branches.

This process aids the tree in survival. Prioritizing, preparing and minimizing allows the tree to get through a more difficult season of its life.

After relearning this as an adult I was able to value and apply it in a way I never had before. My mind was blown and immediately so many metaphors popped into my mind.

I though about the seasons of my life. Some have been easy, minimal effort. While others much more work, physically and emotionally draining.

The tree’s process of innately accepting that a more challenging time is arriving and preparing for it appropriately is just so freakin cool. Nature is amazing.

It is the epitome of self care. The tree knows when it’s going to need a break…to rest. It understands that it can’t keep producing leaves during the rough seasons and that it needs to do less.

Sometimes as humans we over complicate things and refuse to stop. Refuse to accept when we don’t have anything left to give and to allow ourselves to not only stop making chlorophyll but also to suck any of it back in to care for ourselves. We often fail to listen to our basic instincts, or maybe we want to, but society isn’t always set up in a way that allows for it.

What if we all did what the tree does? When entering a more difficult season of our life we cut out any excess, let go of the things that are no longer serving us, pull in any extra resources and wait it out until that season passes.

Having a newborn is just one of many, many examples of this that comes to mind. This is a time of such joy and excitement; but also physical and emotional exhaustion. When I reflect on my babies newborn days I don’t for one second think “ I sure wish I’d done more stuff!” Nope, quite the opposite. Less is the only word that comes to mind. I’d have bought less baby stuff and instead decluttered my home. I’d cut out any unnecessary commitments in advance.

The only thing I would have added more of was sucking as much chlorophyll as possible back into my trunk before the baby came. I’d prepare my body physically and my mind mentally for all the challenges it was about to undertake. I did this with my first child ( yoga, massage, acupuncture, beautiful diet, ran for as long as I could, slept, meditated) but not so great with my son.

My kids are now 3 and 6 we have entered a brand new season. They play independently together and can do things to care for themselves. My daughter made us all peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch the other day and I can’t remember the last time I had to buckle a child in a car seat. They take care of it now. Any parent to young children knows this is huge. We are coming out of a long rough winter and for the first time I’m able to start filling my leaves back up.

What season of life are you in? Is it spring, just starting to bud and awaken again? Is it summer in full bloom able to take on anything? Fall with challenges ahead to prepare for by decluttering your life of as much excess as possible? Or winter? Hunkering down and preserving every bit of energy to make it through a particular challenging time.

Whatever the season, whatever state of tree currently in, take a lesson from nature and fully embrace it.