Maybe this summer isn’t your season to prove anything…
A note from Michell:
This summer, I am doing something I should have done sooner – sharing this space. Our WEW Chapter Leaders and members have so much to say, and starting now you are going to hear from them right here in your inbox. Same community, more voices.
Now let me introduce you to the woman taking the floor today.
Angie Springer is the new Chapter Leader of the Smithton, IL chapter and one of those people who makes every room she walks into feel a little more like a safe place to be real. She has been part of this community well before she took the leap to leadership and what she has to share today is something I think a lot of you have been quietly needing to hear.
Pull up a chair.
Michell
The green thumb of my mother and grandmother clearly skipped a generation with me. I do okay if it is planted in the ground, but anything in a pot starts losing its beauty from the moment I put it there. I have a tendency to drown it in love (quite literally). I sure hope I don’t do that to the humans in my life, but that is a discussion for another day.
So with the first signs of spring this year, I conceded to my gardening woes and ordered some beautiful silk flowers for my porch. They were always pretty and made me smile while quietly reminding me of what I couldn’t grow myself. Within less than a week of potting two gorgeous plants bursting with purple blooms, not a single blossom remained. Even the “easy-to-keep-alive” flowers drooped under my care. Before admitting defeat and waving the white flag of my inadequacies, I popped a seed pack of strawberries my husband brought home into a pot on my window sill. I reluctantly began waiting for signs of life above the surface. I tried not to get my hopes up as I continued to water a pot of dirt. Strawberry “season” had officially come to a close at the local orchard and there was still an absence of vegetation. “I kept entire human beings alive, for goodness sake!” Why can’t I grow a single plant with at least one piece of fruit on it when others have so much produce coming from their gardens that they have to give it away?
Summer has a way of making us look around. We see everyone else’s milestones, celebrations, trips, bucket list days, launches, and “best season yet” moments. If we’re not careful, we can quietly start believing we’re behind, less than, not enough. Here’s the thing, nature never rushes growth. Some flowers bloom early while others bloom late, and some spend an entire season growing roots before anyone ever sees the color above. Yet every bloom arrives in its own time.
Yes, the first bits of green have popped through that soil now. After a little happy dance around the kitchen, I have begun anxiously awaiting the arrival of buds followed by fruit. I can’t rush it though. I don’t know what is happening beneath the surface.
There have been moments I questioned why I wasn’t further. Why my progress seemed so much slower than others around me. I was putting in the work too. When were my rewards coming? In retrospect, those were the seasons I was experiencing exponential growth. It was just internal growth that was unseen by others and, honestly, even by me. Growth rooted in purpose rarely happens on a rushed timeline. I had to stop measuring my progress against where I thought I should be by now and start honoring the season I was actually in, even if that season was about resting.
Maybe this summer isn’t your season to prove anything. Maybe it’s your season to heal, learn, rebuild confidence, or dream again… to prepare for what is coming and who YOU are becoming. Roots are growth too… silently going deeper long before anything blooms above the surface. And women who are deeply rooted and firmly planted tend to bloom beautifully for a very long time.
Spend some time this summer nurturing your season, giving yourself the grace to honor your own pace, and rest when your mind or body needs it. The more time you invest in the unseen things happening inside you, the bigger and bolder and more brilliant your blooms will be! And with any luck, I’ll be able to bring at least one strawberry to a WEW event soon.
