Bloom Where You’re Planted

I consider myself a spiritual person but knowing the scriptures is something I am working on. So I don’t proclaim to be an expert. With that said, I had no idea that the quote “Bloom where you’re planted” derived from the Bible (1 Corinthians 7:17-24). Love it!

Essentially to “bloom where you’re planted” means to not wait to realize your dreams. No matter where you are in your life, don’t wait until things get better or put it off to tomorrow. The time is now. Here’s an analogy I always think of when motivating myself to bloom where I am planted. You see a dress in the window that you have to have. However, you are not happy with your weight. So you say to yourself, “I will get that dress when I am ten pounds lighter.” You then wait until those ten pounds go away and one day as you are waiting, you walk by the window and the dress is gone! Now you have missed out on the dress, which did come in your size but since you were not happy with your current weight, you didn’t buy it.

Life is like that. Some of us could be in situations where we are unemployed or struggling through some emotional pain. Some of us are just in a situation we long to get out of. And what happens is that we don’t bloom where we are planted. We instead wait for that moment when things will get better so that we will have the money to do this or feel well enough to do that. And we let time pass us by. What we don’t realize is that no matter what the situation, we can definitely rise from the ashes and BLOOM WHERE WE ARE PLANTED.

Life is a journey but it’s all about how we travel that path within our journey. That decides what kind of life you will have. We can be shown the path by a higher power (God, The Universe, whatever you believe in) but if we don’t take the steps to walk that path and live life in the best way possible, you will miss out on a great journey.

You are responsible for your own happiness. You are responsible for how your life unfolds. We have the power to create our days. We decide how we let setbacks, disappointments and pain affect our journey.  You live your best life possible when you have faith in your journey, believe in yourself and stay determined to live life in such a way that it feeds your happiness.

Many of us spend too much time letting other folk’s negativity block us on our path. We let obstacles derail us during our journey and pain halt us on our path. What we fail to see is that we lose time when we stop walking on our path. And we can’t get that time back. I know this from personal experience and that’s when I had my own epiphany about blooming where I am planted.

Four years ago, I was laid off from my job of 7 years and dumped by my boyfriend , all in the same week. I was stunned and thrown for a loop. However, it’s crazy because I also felt relieved. I felt as if a huge weight was taken off me. I loved my job but it was very demanding. However, I grew comfortable and considered myself lucky to have a steady job that paid well. I was also not happy with the boyfriend either. I had been contemplating breaking things off but it was easier to stay with someone I was comfortable with. There goes that word again…”comfortable”.

I have since learned that being comfortable is not the secret of success to life. We are constantly challenged and life is all about evolving. Being comfortable in your life is the same as never letting yourself evolve and change. Change can be hard but it is good for your well-being and your life. Being comfortable many times goes hand in hand with fear…fear of the unknown, so we stay within the familiar.

I found myself, 38 years old, facing a do-over that I did not want nor seek. But I was being pushed into it. So I decided I would not resist it. I would walk the path. I had nothing to lose. So I spent some time traveling (which can do wonders for the soul) and exploring what I wanted to do with my life. Ever since I was a kid, I had always been a writer but I ignored that as a career because I had always been told that being a writer was not a real career.

Then the opportunities presented itself and I welcomed them. I continued to walk on the path. Despite not having a conventional 9-5 job, I had to make it work. I had to bloom where I was planted. Now it is not easy and I also have side jobs I do to make ends meet, like tutoring children ages 7-9. But I never lose sight of my main goal and I refuse to give up. I continue to be on my grind; I write pieces, blog and am even writing a book. Writing makes me happy. It feels right. I remember having a conversation with a friend about finding my way and she asked me, “Who are you? What is the first thing that comes to your mind when hearing that question?” And I replied, “I am a writer.” And that was a defining moment for me.

Time waits for no one. And after losing my dad last year, as I have said many times on this blog before, his death reminded me that life is short. And you determine how that life turns out. You create your life. It doesn’t matter where you are or what is going on around you. Life will never be the perfect setting for your dream to unfold. You ultimately have the power to decide how all of that affects you and how you walk your path in life.

You just have to bloom where you’re planted.