Allow yourself to settle.
In whatever way feels comfortable for you.
There's nothing you need to change about your body.
Nothing you need to make happen.
Just notice that you're here.
And perhaps for these next few minutes.
You can let this be a place where you don't have to figure anything out.
You don't have to make a decision.
You don't have to know what comes next.
You don't even have to feel a certain way about the changes happening in your life.
Bye for now.
Maybe you can simply put all that down.
Just for a little while.
And when you're ready.
.
.
Imagine yourself walking toward a familiar willow tree.
You may notice it from a distance,
Its long branches moving gently with the air.
Its leaves shifting and changing.
And as you come closer,
Perhaps you notice that the willow itself is changing too.
Some leaves may still be green.
Others may be beginning to turn.
Perhaps a few have already fallen to the ground.
The tree doesn't seem concerned about any of this.
Isn't trying to hold on to what was.
And it isn't rushing toward what comes next.
Is simply here.
This season.
Find a place beneath the willow that feels right for you.
Maybe you sit against the trunk.
Maybe you lie beneath the branches.
Maybe you simply stand nearby.
There's no right way.
And as you settle here,
Notice that the willow asks nothing of you.
You don't have to explain what's changing.
You don't have to make sense of it.
You don't have to know whether you're excited or afraid.
You can be both.
You can feel relief and sadness.
Hope.
And uncertainty.
Agree.
And possibility.
There is room beneath this tree for all of it.
Perhaps there's something you've been carrying lately.
A question.
A decision.
Something you've been trying to understand.
Something you feel like you should have figured out by now.
You don't have to name it.
But as something comes to mind.
Just notice it.
And imagine setting it down beside you.
Not forever.
You can pick it back up when you leave.
But right now,
You don't need to carry it.
Maybe another thing wants to be put down.
In another.
Expectations.
Timelines.
Other people's opinions.
The pressure to know.
Pressure to choose.
Pressure to become.
Let whatever feels heavy rest on the earth beside you.
Notice what it feels like to sit here without caring all of it.
Maybe there's relief.
Maybe there isn't.
Maybe your body softens.
Maybe it doesn't.
Nothing needs to happen.
You're simply giving yourself a few moments where nothing is required of you.
Above you,
The willow continues moving with the breeze.
Somewhere a leaf lets go.
Tree remains.
Alive.
Still becoming.
There's no urgency.
Nature doesn't rush one season into another.
Perhaps you don't have to rush yourself either.
You are allowed to be in the in-between.
You are allowed to no longer belong to what was.
Without knowing what comes next.
You are allowed to change your mind.
You are allowed to discover something about yourself that you didn't know before.
You are allowed to become someone you haven't met yet.
You don't have to meet that version of yourself today.
For now,
Perhaps,
There is only this moment.
Your body.
Ground beneath you.
The willow above you.
Quiet possibility that you don't need to force your life forward.
Maybe place a hand somewhere on your body if that feels supportive.
And simply offer yourself these words.
I am allowed to be in the in-between.
I don't have to know yet.
I can let this unfold.
Before you leave the willow.
Look beside you.
Everything you set down.
Notice you have a choice.
You can pick something back up.
You can leave something here a little longer.
Or perhaps you realize it's something you've been carrying.
Doesn't belong to you.
And when you're ready,
Begin making your way back.
Knowing that Willow will still be here.
You can return whenever you need a place where nothing has to be decided.
Where nothing has to be fixed.
You are allowed to simply be.
Right here.
Between what was and whatever comes next.
