Clinging to Old Leaves

As most people know, life is full of a cycle of seasons: spring to summer, summer to fall, fall to winter, and winter back to spring again. Each year we experience this cycle. Life consisting of this cycle is a no-brainer, right? Of course, it is. We see it happen year after year. It’s old news, and we expect it to happen.

The thing is, people seem to forget that this same cycle of seasons applies not just to the external environment but to their personal lives—or they're trying to will it not to be the case. They cling desperately to the old. Despite the attempts to prevent change, our personal lives undergo the cycle just like the outside world.

We need to learn from trees; year after year, trees go through the cycle of seasons, growing new buds, blooming, changing colors, and finally releasing their leaves. If they did not release their old leaves, they wouldn't be able to obtain new ones. The tree recognizes the old leaves can no longer serve it and releases the leaves with ease and no fuss. No desperate attempts to keep them and to force them to stay.

Release your leaves. They’re withered, old, crumbling, brittle, and, more importantly, dead. They no longer serve you. You gain nothing by clinging to them. Hanging on to them just weighs you down. They are literal deadweight, and your desperate attempts to keep them only devours your precious reserves of energy; you get nothing in return. There’s no benefit to keeping them any longer. Let them fall. Stop the charade, and free yourself. You deserve better. Sure, you know these old leaves; there's familiarity, and that familiarity can bring comfort. Yet, there's no room for the new buds and leaves to grow. You’re blocking all the wonderful new experiences, opportunities, people, and things from entering your life.

Trees know when to let go. They recognize life will not forsake them; their branches will be full of new life once again. Trees know that their leaves are a part of their life, but they know that they are not their leaves. One part does not make up the whole. You are not your leaves. Let the old leaves fall. Stop holding yourself back, clinging to these old leaves. Surrender this desire, so you can experience new leaves.

If you finally let go of the dead leaves, will you know the precise instant you will receive the new leaves? No, but you will never receive the new leaves if you insistently hang on to the old. You can choose to keep your old leaves; maybe you feel like they make you a big fish. Maybe they do, but it leaves you as a big fish in a small pond when there's a whole ocean, waiting just around the corner. You can choose to stay there, cocooning yourself in old leaves, but you won't reach your next chapter that way. Your life isn't meant to be that way; it's not meant to be stagnant.

Who wants to read a story that never progresses past chapter one? It could be an incredible first chapter, but if you were meant to stay as you are forever, you'd still be a baby today. You never would have learned to sit up—never learn to crawl, never learn to walk, never learn to run or skip or jump. You never would have left preschool, or elementary school, or middle school, or high school, or college. You never would have gotten your first job or moved out to your own place. You never would have learned hobbies or skills or sports or other languages. You never would have to traveled to other places. You’d still be there, lying down in your crib because you can’t support yourself yet and crying whenever you need something; that's the only way you know how to communicate, and you don’t know how to satisfy your own needs. All you know is that your world isn’t right because you're lacking something, whether it's food, sleep, clean clothes, love, etc. There can be joys to chapter one, but books don’t consist of only one part; there’s a beginning, middle, and end to every story.

The thing is, we both know you’re past all that—you've made it past that initial chapter. Multiple chapters have closed and began since then. The cycle of seasons has played out for you before. You’ve lost old leaves, but then you've gotten new ones. The ending of one chapter leads to the beginning of the next. One door closes for another to open. You have a choice, and it's yours to make. Keep clinging to the old leaves if that's what you really want. Know that there's not enough room on your branches; hang on or let go, freeing yourself to grow new life. It's time for you to decide. The freedom of this choice is yours and yours alone. You possess the freedom to move on or remain stationary, clinging to what’s long since passed.