Is it OK to blossom now? A question I ask myself every day and a question I imagine the trees and flowers are asking themselves now. March in Minnesota is usually snow-covered and grey-ish. But this year June temperatures showed up in bright green shorts and flip 
flops while our coat closets were still sporting black parkas and mukluks.
A walk through the woods reveals trees and plants in various stages of bloom confusion. I can relate.
I’m between my old and new life.
Stay Close to Home or Venture Out?
I’m at the mouth of the cave where I hibernated for years as a married woman with children and homemaking ambitions. A few steps outside the cave is me as a divorced woman with children and career ambitions. My old cave served its purpose and gave me shelter and protection for years. I love that cave. But it’s time to wake up and move out.
So I’m stretching and pawing the ground. Looking for signs of life to guide me in this personal spring. Which direction are my children headed? What has their attention? How to move forward with their well-being in mind? I must lead them in the best direction for ultimate survival, where they can grow healthy and strong.
There’s a fine line between their growth and mine. I am mindful of their needs and wants for closeness. I am mindful of my wants and needs to venture out. I need space to roam and gather sustenance, both financially and spiritually. They fight, fear and benefit from independence but don’t know it. We are all in bloom confusion.
I take steps toward writing dreams but often the chill of reality and responsibility snuffs out all the growth I make. Will I be stuck in this bud stage forever?
I mistakenly thought growth was effortless. It’s effortful. Every seedling must push through 
the soil…and sometimes the earth is cold and hard. Some days the struggle is all-consuming. It would be so easy to lay dormant.
Unlike nature, I have choices. I can strike out and struggle in search of my calling or I can carefully exist on what I have stored up. I’ve been existing carefully for years. I’m mysteriously drawn to the struggle.
Love
I have choices in love too. Stay wrapped tight in my cocoon of self-love and awareness or bloom openly and generously with another. I’m satisfied with my single way of life. I’m not a loner but I flower in solitude. My brightest colors often appear when I am alone. Perhaps I should spend more time preparing for my debut.
Children and the cave keep me busy and nourished. Adding love to the mix seems ambitious. Still… the warmth of a loving gaze draws me out. What if love finds me, like sunshine finds green leaves? How can I not move toward it? Even if it arrives early.
What It Takes To Bloom Magnificently
Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
The patience of nature. Letting things unfold naturally. Paying attention to conditions. One moment of rain drenched heavens. One moment of sun soaked skies. I will bloom, blossom and grow. When the time is right. Every day.
What nutrients do you need to bloom fully? When was the last time you woke up and moved on? Are you immersed in self-love and/or growing with someone else?
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“Are you immersed in self-love and/or growing with someone else?”
It’s definitely not an either/or! I really like the emphasis you give in your writing to the benefits of ‘uncoupling’ and to having time and space to enjoy life as an individual. Personally I can’t imagine ever wanting to be part of a ‘couple’ again, especially if it involved giving up my own home! However . . . I can see that for a lot of people it makes economic sense, and it usually makes sense if people want to start a family. The ‘middle way’ is surely to appreciate and enjoy good ‘friendships’ – in other words, to enjoy and to grow with not just “someone else” but with many others who share your interests, enthusiasms and needs. If it then turns out that you spend increasing amounts of time with certain people or with one other person – then so be it. Expanding the circle of friendship is surely one of life’s joys, and one that tends not to happen to a lot of people who commit to coupledom and to living in nuclear families. But we all have to beware of being drawn into thinking dualistically and into assuming that the only viable states of being are either solitude or coupledom. GF
As a newly minted singleton I am definitely doing some “middling”. I am enthusiastically embracing new friendships with kindred spirits but at the same time breathing deeply and lovingly in spacious solitude. I’ve never been more content. Thank you so much for reading and sharing your thoughts.
Hi Brenna, like you, I’m looking out from the mouth of my cave.
I’m taking steps further from the cave nowadays, but always need to go back when I feel I maybe too far away. But, each day I take an extra step.
Tom – Keep taking those steps. I have a feeling we are on a similar extraordinary path. It takes courage to move away from the safe cave, but courage can lead to incredible.:)