Growth & Greenery: Unleashing the Power of Patience and Support

If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that I love flowers. I love the ambiance flowers bring to a room or the smile that they evoke on someone’s face when they receive them. The downside to cut flowers is that they die quite quickly. So last month, I decided to try something different.

Even though I have no green thumb, I decided to go to the plant nursery and buy an indoor plant. If I could keep them alive, perhaps I would be able to enjoy them for weeks or even months. Because I have no idea what I am doing when it comes to growing and planting,  I invited a plant expert from my tribe to spend the afternoon with me. 

Sidebar - not only did we visit the plant nursery, we also stopped by a coffee shop to have some tea and enjoyed spending a few moments chatting and catching up with each other. 

As you plan your activities and outings, don’t forget to consider how you might be able to weave some tribe time along the way. 

It took me about an hour and a half to find the right flowers and the right pots that would add some color to my office. In the end, I settled on the most beautiful bright yellow ​​begonias. They were absolutely stunning. I paid for my purchases, picked up the bag of soil, and we headed back to the house to replant the begonias into two separate pots to give them more space to breathe and grow. 

It didn’t take long for her to show me how to break the roots up, water, add more soil and Miracle Grow, and replant the flowers in their new pots. After we were done, we paused to drink some sparkling water as we admired the newly potted plants, which would soon find their way to my office. 

The next day the plants were gorgeous! However, the very next day, the nightmare began. I started to notice little brown spots on the bright yellow leaves. I knew that watering was not the answer, so I opened the window to give them a little more sun hoping that that would do the trick. 

To my horror, within less than a week, 60% of the flowers were dead. I googled and researched in an attempt to figure out what I had done wrong. After about ten days, I was exasperated and told my husband to go to the store to get me another plant. Maybe the best answer was to start over. 

He counseled me to be patient. When I conferred with my wise plant doctor friend, she also counseled me to wait. Sure enough, a few days later, the plant was full of new green flowers pushing their way through. The diagnosis was that the plant just needed time to recover from the shock of being replanted.

Sometimes our lives are like that begonia plant. We are thriving, doing well at the top of our game when suddenly something comes along that threatens our emotional, physical, financial, or even social wellness and rips us up at the root…

An illness or difficult diagnosis 
A lost loved one
A restructure at work
Challenges with a child  
[Fill in your blank]

The shock of it all knocks us off balance, and we start to wither inside. Every day becomes harder and harder until one day; it feels like a part of us might die for good. 

Today I want to encourage you. When those inevitable moments come, call your tribe for support. 

Your support tribe could be a family member or friend, but it could also be a doctor, therapist, or coach. Then consider patiently giving yourself time. Time may not be able to heal all wounds, but it sure goes a long way to helping you get there. Time creates space to think differently, explore new approaches, rest, seek help, and find support from those you love. 

So the next time you feel ripped out from your roots, tap into your support tribe and pause…you never know what greenery and growth you might find on the other side. 

Meet The Author Leah JM Dean is a people strategy & executive recruitment advisor, coach, speaker, author of the best-selling book, Assemble the Tribe, and founder of the women's leadership program, the Tribe Advantage. She is on a mission to help women and organizations all across the globe transform their tribes in life and leadership. To learn more about Leah's work, her best-selling book Assemble the Tribe visit www.leahjmdean.com. To join the waitlist for The Tribe Advantage Leadership Program, visit www.thetribeadvange.com Leah lives in Bermuda with her husband and two children.