Willow in the Wind: A Story to Cope with Change
‘Stay strong’ they said. But I knew better.
A story from mindpluto.com
The Weeping Willow Tree stands tall amongst the dotted trees by the river. It’s galloping branches, bending and swaying in an almost silly fashion, like long strands of hair in the wind. Next to it, standing taller, and stronger, is the mighty Oak Tree. The Willow paled in comparison to the power and endurance of the Oak. Though side by side, the two trees grew in very different ways; one bending to the flow of life, while the other firmly pressed against the Earth.
One day, the winds howled louder, and the rain fell harder. A storm, as unexpected and as powerful as ever, brushed against the two trees with a force unseen. The Oak stood tall and fought against the current of the wind, digging deeper into its roots for stability and resilience. In its shadows, the Willow bent and wavered to the storm, its branches stretching in whichever direction the strong winds blew.
Once the storm lifts, the Oak finds its trunk bruised with cracks and its branches scattered across the moss beneath, while the Willow — though exhausted from fluttering to the beat of the storm, remained intact, and even grew stronger stems the following Spring.
Know that storms will happen. They are difficult to predict. But just like the weeping willow, accept it with grace. Don’t resist to these winds of change. Accept it. Learn from it. Grow from it. Every part of life is teaching you something new, and every part is meant to be experienced.
You can’t tell the wind which way to go, but you can dance in the direction it takes you.
There was a time when I thought strength stemmed from resilience. From sticking to what you know, who you are, and what you want. For someone who was quite lost in life, it seemed like the right place to start.
‘The more focused and committed I am to my objectives and my greater purpose, the stronger I will be,’ I’d tell myself. But there was something important that I overlooked, a margin of error, to put it comically. Life.
See, life, is ever-changing and unpredictable. It is constantly evolving, growing, dying, rebirthing, relearning, all around us. Much like the philosopher Heraclitus once said:
“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river. And he is not the same man.”
You’re not meant to stay the same. As your surroundings and circumstances change; so do you. And over the years, these winds of change quite literally mold us into who we truly are, and what we truly want.
In moments of our life, when we feel we need the strength to continue, it’s this story of the Willow in the Wind, that reminds us of a force even more powerful than strength: acceptance. To accept change, to accept what life throws your way, and reach closer and closer to unveiling the beauty of your life after each mighty lesson.
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