Life will always find a way

For those of you who don’t know, I am in the latter stages of training to become a counsellor. I’ve been at this for about two-and-a-half years now and still have another fourteen or so months to go until I am officially qualified.

It’s been hard at times; I’ve had to make some sacrifices to accommodate my training. There’s a constant string of essays, assignments and reflections to write and being amidst a global pandemic doesn’t mean that the pressure is off. In fact, I could argue it’s slightly more of a challenge now that we’re all working from home and only have one laptop to share between us.

Anyway, today I completed one of the three essays that have to be handed in straight after the Easter break.

Today’s reflection was about something called ‘the actualising tendency.’ For anyone that’s never heard of this I’ll break it down for you.

In a nutshell, the actualising tendency is about how all living organisms strive towards growth and life, even in the darkest and most difficult of conditions. Think about a bag of potatoes being stored in a dark basement with just a slither of light shining through a nearby window. Those potatoes will still sprout their shoots and they will grow towards the light. They may not be the strongest or healthiest of shoots but they will still do their best to grow and become.

Or the lone flower that pushes her way up through a crack in the pavement desperate to lift her petals up to greet the sun; standing tall and proud, albeit somewhat out of place.

I was reminded in this moment of how clever nature is. She will always find a way to grow and push through from the darkness into the light, even when the going gets tough. She may not be the most beautiful expression of herself because the conditions aren’t quite right, but she never gives up; never stops striving.

For me it was a perfect reminder that I needed at a difficult time when life feels very strange and no one even knows what day it is.

Human beings are one of the most adaptable and accepting species on the planet. When you look back through history at some of the challenges humankind has overcome - it’s astonishing really. We are the most capable of change and adaptation and we are a constant reminder of the beauty of life.

Even when the chips are down, just like those potato shoots or that lone flower, people will always find hope. We will always adapt to our new, albeit strange situation and keep on moving towards a strange new world.

So if you’re reading this feeling a bit down or anxious, recognise that life WILL recover. It may be different for a while and in essence, may never truly be the same again, but we will get past this.

We just need to keep changing and growing with the demands of this new life; finding positivity within ourselves and within nature. If we can keep moving towards the light, we will make it through.

Nature is clever and so are we. We will continue to change and adapt to the strangeness of this new life.

A comforting thought in these difficult times: when life grows dark, and our landscape changes beyond recognition, people will always find a way back to the light. It’s the law of nature.