Lessons on Change from a Houseplant

I suppose somewhere out there in the world there’s a person who absolutely loves change- just lives for it. I wish I were that person, but unfortunately that is just not me. And yet, despite my discomfort, the feeling of stagnancy, of not achieving my goals, well that’s it’s own sort of torture as well. It’s a bit of a catch-22.

Currently, I find myself stuck between two sorts of discomfort. The COVID-19 pandemic and  lockdown in Ontario has made the world feel like it's come to a bit of a halt. At the same time, the company I began my career with was acquired, not once, but twice in the last two years. With this has come a lot of change- in responsibilities, goals, colleagues and even the brand. It is in times like these I wish I was someone who relished in change. 
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All this has had me thinking of a conversation that suddenly feels more relevant. A few years ago, for my birthday, my partner got me a little African Violet houseplant. They can be a bit picky, and I’d never had a houseplant before, so I was unsure how to care for it. Somehow, it is still alive today, and in April, it exploded with the most beautiful blooms I’ve ever seen. The rich, purple petals had a sparkle to them. I didn’t even know that was possible.

A few weeks before the bloom, I had tried to repot the flower. After I had taken it out of its pot I realized it wasn’t ready to be repotted and had to put it back in its home. When I told my partner, who is a landscaper, arborist and a botany-enthusiast, about this, he explained to me that lots of plants actually bloom under stress – it’s a survival mechanism for the plant since flowers are their reproductive organs. My repotting attempt had likely caused my little violet a great amount of stress, but from that came the most beautiful flowers.

As I ride the waves of change right now, I have been reflecting on this:

Maybe the discomfort of change is what it takes to really bloom.