Losing the Pot

I’ve gone through a lot of changes in the past couple of years, but I went through a period of time where I lost some old friends and acquired a couple of new ones, which made me feel particularly unsettled.... It was odd being around people that better supported me as a human being, yet I surprised myself with just how sad and incredibly sensitive I felt about leaving certain people behind. 

I didn’t necessarily crave them or the past, but I was definitely still adjusting. It made me think back to when my mother taught me about moving a potted plant into the garden; she would always tell me to be extra gentle with the roots, as they would have to adjust, and would be sensitive to their new environment. Even though that environment (the fertile garden, as opposed to the small, restrictive pot) was far better for them, the plants would still cling to their pots. Sometimes their newest roots were so heavily dependent on their old pots that they couldn’t be separated, so sadly they would break off and fall to the floor.

Short story short: that was exactly how I felt about my old relationships; I was still partly attached to them, but in order to flourish, we needed to separate. 

(Painting by Julie Morrison: "Potted Plant Study".)