“I give myself very good advice, but I very seldom follow it.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass
When I was younger, I was asked a bunch of different questions in school: what I wanted to be when I grew up, what my favorite subject was. I usually had some form of answer, until one day I didn’t. This was years after school had come and gone. I was asked to bring a packet of seeds to a garden-themed party that represented me so the person who was the main focus of the party could guess who they each represented for a game. I spent days trying to figure out what best represented me. I was stumped. Finally, I asked my mom for her opinion and she told me that she thought I was best represented by wildflowers.
The party, and the people, came and went. The memory has stuck with me and now I wonder…do you suppose I AM a wildflower?
I mean, think about what you get in a packet of seeds marked “Wildflowers”. You never really know, do you? You might get something beautiful or something not so beautiful. There are definitely parts of me that aren’t so beautiful, and that’s an unfortunate part of my reality. Much like Alice, others find me odd or strange and push me out of their “garden”. My roots have been yanked up and tossed into the garbage so many times, they no longer want to try to grasp into the soil every time I am replanted. Put simply, I’m afraid. I’m so tired of trying to make new connections just to be pushed away the minute something goes wrong.
Being a wildflower isn’t all bad, however. There are some people who are willing to look past the gnarled roots or twisted vines to see the beauty hidden within. Not everyone you meet is meant to stay in your life. With every failure comes a life lesson to take away. With every fall comes someone to help you up again. Even if no one is there, it’s not impossible to pick yourself up again. Life is full of ups and downs, and only those meant to stay in your garden will help to weather the storms.
So, do you suppose you’re a wildflower?
Stay wicked.