I Thought It Was One Thing… It Was Eight

Stay with me on this one...

Ok… so I’ve been finding myself with a little more time lately.

Not a ton. But enough where I’m like… alright, now what?

The other morning, I was out running errands, dropped Dad off at the Senior Center, did my thing, came back up the hill to the house.

And halfway up my driveway… there were 3 deer just standing there.

So, I slowed down.

Two of them took off down the hill, but one stayed.

And when I say stayed… I mean it just stood there looking at me.

So, I sat there in my Jeep and looked right back.

No movement. No panic. Just… stillness.

That kind of quiet like:

Yeah, I see you. You see me?

We just sat there for a minute.

Then the one deer finally turned and walked down the hill.

And I don’t know… that just stuck with me.

Just… ok… noted.

After doing my errands, came home,

Dad laid down for a nap,

and I went out onto the porch.

And it was quiet.

Bees buzzing around.

Not bothering anything, just doing their thing.

Wind moving through the trees.

That same stillness again.

And I’m sitting there like… well hell.

Now what do I do?

I almost laid down and took a nap,

which if you know me, I hate doing that.

So instead, I got up and started messing with my plants outside around my home.

Pulling weeds. Moving things around a little. Checking on ones that survived the winter.

Nothing big. Just… I needed to do something.

Then I got to this aloe plant I’ve had for a few years.

And when I say plant… I mean a whole damn aloe bush.

I brought it out of my garage a few weeks ago.

It was doing great in there all winter.

Brought it outside… and now it’s just not happy.

Droopy. Pale. Off.

So last year I cut it back some when it looked off.

And it did bounce right back.

This year felt different.

So, I didn’t cut it.

I pulled it out of the pot.

Let’s see what’s going on with it.

And yeah… it wasn’t just one plant.

It was like 8 plants all packed in together… starving.

So, I started thinking on it…

It was just too much sitting in one space.

And I couldn’t just ignore my aloe plant.

I knew something needed to be done… no rush in it.

Just the right thing that needed to be done.

So, I broke it up.

Repotted everything.

Spread it out.

Took each separate plant and potted it in its own pot.

Put it in the shade and left it alone.

Now after doing all that…

it hit different.

I didn’t force anything.

I didn’t try to save it the way I did it last year…

or how I thought I should.

I took the pause, the stillness moment, and looked at what was underneath.

I just made space for it to grow the way it needed to.

Where I Thought It Was One Thing… It Was Eight more.

And now there’s 8 brand new plants instead of just one crowded mess of a plant.

Now we’ll see how it grows from here.

So… the verdict is still out on this.

Writing this now… it’s hitting a little different than it did last week.

This might hit a little different depending on what you’ve been working through.

But it get me thinking about the energy for the last several months.

And what I was noticing then…

a lot of people were not reacting before

they were just shutting down

or it went the complete opposite way

and everything felt a little out of control.

Sometimes the system just goes quiet instead.

Then other times it spills over.

Just remember…

not everything that breaks is bad.

Some of it is necessary.

My aloe plant wasn’t dying.

It needed more space to do its thing.

The aloe plants were fighting over space to grow and survive.

They weren’t root bound… there was space underneath.

They were just too top heavy trying to branch out but couldn’t.

Which one survives?

The biggest one was taking the main hit…

but the others around it were trying to stand up for themselves…

pushing their way out of the pot.

I believe standing up for ourselves with this past energy has been important.

But if we look at the aloe plant…

it would be nice if they could just say:

Hey… I need this clutter removed so I can survive and thrive. 😆

Now looking at it that way… for us…

We need to know our own worth.

But at the same time, it doesn’t need to echo out in the world in a negative way.

Also… we’re human.

We all make mistakes.

Lord knows I’ve had my share.

How do I think we can bridge forward?

I feel like something got off track in how we relate to each other.

Too defensive.

Too reactionary.

Everything felt like it was happening on the front lines.

As I sit here and think…

We need more curiosity.

That’s what keeps us from going backwards.

That’s what moves us forward.

Maybe it starts simple…

Hey, here’s what I’ve been doing… what about you?

It's about ourselves.

It's about each other.

Real conversations again.

Not just reactions.

With everything I went through the last 5–6 months,

I had my nervous system flaring as a response.

It’s calmed down now,

but it made me realize how much that affects how we see everything.

If your system is off…

your perception is off.

Because of that…

be careful what you’re taking in right now.

Don’t fall for the noise.

Don’t let the outside noise drown your inner voice.

Because the outside world is going to get a lot louder.

So, it’s important to stay connected to the truth you find in the quiet.

That stillness.

So going back to last week with the deer…

and the aloe…

That deer didn’t panic.

It didn’t react.

It just stood there…

aware.

Taking it all in.

Listening.

And that aloe…

it wasn’t dying.

It was just overcrowded.

We saw the clutter.

We saw what needed to be moved.

What needed more space.

What needed to be repotted somewhere else.

Going forward now…

maybe go back and check on those plants.

Make sure they’re doing ok.

It’s not time to repot again.

What’s done is done.

What grows from there… is the whole point.

And I’m pretty sure…

they ~ and you ~ will be ready soon enough

to go out into the sun,

to take it all in,

and grow stronger than before.

Give things room to grow.

And we might realize…

the good was still there the whole damn time.

The plant didn’t die.

It just needed space.

Did I get your attention?

It got mine.

Made me pause…

What about you?

~Kristi

Kristi Wandering Gypsy