Friday morning I made a 40-minute drive out to a local farm I am spending one day a week volunteering at over the coming few months. I have been anxiously awaiting to begin getting my hands dirty learning and growing through this process. My dream of growing things ourselves has been a huge dream of mine. Growing vegetables and herbs has is possibly one of my biggest passions. As I drove out to the farm from our home (one peninsula to another) a song came on a mix that I hadn’t heard in a while. It was from May Erlewine, a local artist here in Traverse City. In the song, she talks about what it means to find yourself challenged and going through something hard or life changing. She talks about when those times come you just have to lean into the wind and allow life to wash over you as you shift and change as it is intended to. I loved the words to this song and the phrase “lean into the wind” because whether your life is going beautifully or you are going through a tough time leaning into the winds of life is so important.
For me lately, life has been rather beautiful, full, exhilarating, and fulfilling, but in ways I never would have anticipated a year ago. I feel slower these days, our trip to Copenhagen showed me how to relax as a mother. I have felt and seen my passions become more tangible. I have been spending a lot of time outside, forgetting my phone, working when I have designated time, and finding calm that if something doesn’t happen in that time, it is okay. Lately, I have felt more creative and free to dream because I have segmented my life so I have clear work times, play times, and life time. Getting back home, I have been working on taking a slower pace in life and feeling less immediacy in everything. The Danish culture rubbed off on me immensely in even the few days I was there. So, for me leaning into the wind has become a phrase that means to feel the present moment, fight for the things you need in life to feel joy, and allow life to form you and shape you as it is meant to. I have always been someone that is trying to shape myself and do it all. These days, I have just a few tasks that I make sure to get done. The rest of the day I leave room for life to happen and enjoy the rhythm of life as it unfolds.
This last season has been one that has grown me significantly, and as I am working through closing out our first Intentional Season, I have a lot of feelings about how I wish it could be better, but also about how much growth and happiness I have felt in the last few months. There is always room to grow, become better, but there is something to be said about accepting where we are in life and how far we have come and whether it all makes us happy or not. Though I see the places I fell short of my hopes, I see the places I grew and succeeded and just how much joy I feel in this space compared to a year ago. That is a huge success that I plan to revel in as I close out spring. Of course, there are big dreams that I have for where TFE will go and how it will coincide with my passions and life, but all in the right time. That acceptance of where I find myself has left me feeling less like a raging river after this spring and more like a calm stream as we think about entering summer.
The season ahead boasts of adventure, learning, and more growth, but I plan to lean into the wind and to ride the wave, feel it all, embrace it all, and be present in it all because that is where I find joy. If we aren’t careful our joy can be stolen out from underneath us without knowing how to get it back. For me, my joy is the greatest thing I could ever own in life so I am willing to give up a lot to maintain it. I know what it means to be robbed of it all too well. Happy Monday friends, may you lean into the wind this week.
