STRONG THINGS grow slowly… The third slide is a 4 year old hazel tree planted by me, grown from from a nut I brought from Heartwood forest in 2018. I planted 12 nuts. This one is the one who survived. Looking at it, it may not seem like much. A very young tree still with a long way to go. But of all the nuts dropped that year, this is the one who survived. I could have been many things. I could have developed many versions of myself and chosen many different paths. Perhaps at times my choices may have seemed limited, at times, as though I had no choice but the next step in front of me. Who knows who I could have become if I’d stayed in Hertfordshire. I will never know. All I know is that despite the challenges of changing my home, my job and my relationship all in that 6 month period, I CHOSE. And I have grown. More in the past 4 years than the 10 before it. Growth does escalate, but strong things grow slowly, I see that now. So when people tell you ‘You’re so strong!’ And you want to punch them square in the face because you feel like a bag of burnt out fag-ends, what they are sensing is not how you feel in that moment but how far you have come and what you have negotiated to get to this point. I promise you, one day, you will feel your own strength, both on the days when you feel free as a bird, and on the days you feel broken. You won’t want to punch that person in the face anymore. Just say thank you and walk away and find a nice place for a little meditate or nap. Let. Yourself. Go. Slow. And see how far you’ve come 🥰🌸🌊💚 #shashaspiritledlife #strongthingsgrowslowly #youarestrong #goslowly #slowdown #everythingisfigureoutable #loveyourself #yourock #creditwherecreditisdue #letitgo #personalgrowth #yougotthis #bettertogether #riverwitch https://www.instagram.com/p/Cd8lsn9oL3v/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=