What I’ve learned from the leaves,
We associate the life of trees with color. When the colors fade, the greyscale branches cracking through the air resemble a bloodless corpse, drained of its flush. It would be easy to mistake a leafless stump as a “dead tree,” but inside, it’s soul is in hibernation. The cyclical design, natural order of preservation, is the definition of survival and perseverance. We shed, to grow new life.
There’s the more obvious biological display of molting or ecdysis, that also suits this analogy. Crustaceans and snakes alike, shedding their outer layer to promote physical growth. Now humans shedding a layer of skin is an exponentially more frightful refference, so we stuck with leaves to fit a more poetic representation. I do believe humans need to shed, In the same way we witness slowly gradient burnt oranges and bronzes sprawl across the mountainside, enveloping the green like wildfire.
We need to shed internally. All the things that brought us life in the previous seasons, will not survive the cold front. The longer we cling to fleeting motivations, the more lifeless we’ll become. We have to find new inspiration around every corner of life. Each emotion we feel, is like a branch reaching towards the sun. Excitement, worry, relief, exhaustion, are all extensions of our being, grazing the world around us. Emotions aren’t meant to linger through seasons. Like leaves, we grow them, display them, and shed them, to make room for more. Allow your emotions to dry, and drop to the ground. There’s no use clinging to dead leaves.
I’m so grateful to the Fall.
The truth is blue
-John
