This morning, my garden didn’t just whisper a story—it slapped me across the face with a grade one snot klap. I mean, the peach tree was literally struck in half by lightning last year… and it’s STILL ALIVE. Damaged, but still bearing fruit. Still offering shelter! I mean, come on—if that’s not wild resilience, I don’t know what is.
Next to it stands an avocado tree. Last year, it produced an abundance of glorious fruit. By this time, I’d already harvested crates of avos. This year? Only now, in November, is it beginning to bud again.
Both trees have been through something. Both trees are still living, still giving, still becoming.
And somewhere between the peach and the avocado, I saw myself.
Here’s what they taught me:
- Growth isn’t always linear.
- Resilience isn’t always tidy.
- Life doesn’t wait for your healing to offer fruit.
You are not a problem to be solved; you are a person to be loved.
Glennon Doyle
Suggested Reading:
- The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown
- Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach
- Untamed by Glennon Doyle
- The Mountain Is You by Brianna Wiest
- Soul of Money by Lynne Twist
7 Small Shifts for Big Magic:
- Notice your triggers without naming them failures.
- Speak to yourself the way you’d speak to a child who’s learning.
- Replace “I’m behind” with “I’m becoming.”
- Share your shame with someone safe—watch it shrink in the light.
- Write down one thing your trigger is teaching you right now.
- Take one tiny aligned action even while uncomfortable.
- Celebrate budding as much as blooming.
One of my biggest triggers; and a shame-soaked one at that, is the feeling that I’m “behind.”
Behind in my writing. Behind in my work. Behind in my emotional evolution.
But the trees reminded me: You don’t have to be trigger-free to bear fruit.
Like the peach tree, parts of me have weathered storms. I’ve lost branches. I’ve been scorched. I’ve needed time.
Like the avocado tree, parts of me just weren’t ready to fruit this season — and that’s okay. Budding happens on its own timeline.
And still, without being perfect or polished or “finished,” I can create. I can offer love, support, guidance. I can bear fruit while I’m becoming.
Shame cannot survive being spoken and met with empathy.
Brené Brown
Triggers aren’t enemies — they’re invitations.
When we insist on being “fully healed” before we show up, we make our shame our storyteller and our limitations our leaders.
But triggers are just information — and sometimes they’re teachers. What they don’t have to be is bullies.
So here’s what I’m learning to say:
- I can grow even when I feel exposed.
- I can bloom even when I feel behind.
- I can be both tender and tenacious.
Your triggers don’t disqualify you. They deepen you.
Just like the storm-struck peach still offers refuge…
And the avocado, late to bud, will still bear fruit.
And so will you.
You can still be healing and still be helping.
Unknown