🌿 The Lesson in the Leaves: What Nature Taught Me About Holding Steady

I looked up at the sky and prayed,

“God, don’t let me lose faith in this hour of my life. Don’t let me lose faith in this season.”

Because if I’m being completely honest, I felt myself slipping.

I sat there carrying a weight so heavy that I didn’t want to work. I didn’t want to record. I didn’t want to be seen. It wasn’t even that I couldn’t—I simply didn’t want to be the strong one anymore. I was tired of holding everything together.

Where I was sitting, the sun rested just behind a tree. I could tell it was there, pouring light through the branches while the clouds put on a show overhead. Some drifted lazily to the left. Others raced across the sky to the right as if they were trying to outrun something. Nothing moved together. Everything above me seemed to have a mind of its own. ☁️

Right as I admitted out loud how tired I was, the wind picked up.

The leaves began to dance. 🍃

The sunlight reached a little farther through the branches.

And in that exact moment, I noticed something strange.

My body felt completely still.

While the leaves rustled wildly in the wind, my eyes settled on the trunk.

It wasn’t moving.

The tree made perfect sense.

The leaves were doing exactly what leaves are designed to do.

The trunk was doing exactly what a trunk is designed to do.

That’s when I realized the question wasn’t,

“Why are the leaves moving?”

The question was,

Which part of the tree am I choosing to identify with?

Physically, I was already the trunk.

I was sitting still.

I wasn’t running.

I wasn’t falling apart.

But mentally…

I was identifying with the leaves.

Every thought was moving with the wind.

Every “what if” carried me somewhere else.

Every uncertainty convinced me I needed to solve everything immediately.

The moment became more manageable when I realized I had a choice.

I couldn’t stop the wind.

But I could stop becoming the leaves.

🌿 And right then, nature handed me the mirror I needed.

🌬️ Shaking Isn’t the Same as Breaking

Just because the wind is blowing doesn’t mean you’re losing your strength.

Does it mean things are shaking up a bit?

Absolutely.

But a shaking leaf doesn’t mean a dying root.

☀️ Coverings Are Temporary

Sometimes fast-moving clouds drift right in front of your sunshine.

They dim the light.

They make the day feel gray.

But a cloud covering the sun doesn’t mean the sun is gone.

It doesn’t mean the day is over.

And it certainly doesn’t mean you should give up.

The sun is still burning with the exact same power behind the clouds.

It’s simply waiting for the sky to clear.

💎 Your Value Is Immutable

We judge ourselves according to our feelings.

We mistake exhaustion for weakness.

We mistake rejection for worthlessness.

We mistake our mistakes for our identity.

But treating something as less than what it is doesn’t change what it actually is.

You can throw a precious stone into the dirt, kick it around, or fail to notice its shimmer in the dark, but it never stops being precious.

Your value doesn’t decrease just because you’re having trouble seeing it today.

🌳 The Real Work: Learning to Hold Steady

My problem—and maybe yours too—is that I don’t always know how to hold steady.

When the wind blows, I want to move with the leaves.

When the clouds roll in, I panic and assume the light is gone forever.

But today, nature reminded me of who and what I am.

Nature didn’t create peace for me today. It revealed the peace that had been there all along.

You don’t have to perform strength twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

You don’t have to force yourself to be seen when your soul is asking for rest.

You simply have to be the trunk of the tree.

Let the leaves shake.

Let the wind move through your branches.

Let the tears come when the weight feels too heavy.

Stay rooted. 🌿

The sun isn’t gone.

Your faith isn’t broken.

And you are still precious—even when you can’t feel it.

🌤️ The Sky Was Clear All Along

Just a few minutes later, after watching the chaos of clouds drift slowly in one direction while others raced in the opposite direction, I looked back up.

That entire messy, crowded patch of sky had disappeared.

I didn’t have to push the clouds away.

The tree didn’t have to fight the wind.

The open sky had been there the entire time, simply waiting for the movement to pass.

That became the reminder my heart needed most.

The heaviness isn’t permanent.

The exhaustion isn’t permanent.

The fear isn’t permanent.

The thoughts telling me I’m not enough aren’t permanent.

They’re just passing through. ☁️

I don’t have to force them to leave.

I don’t have to exhaust myself trying to fix the weather.

I only have to stay rooted long enough to watch the sky clear itself.

Because I don’t get to choose whether the wind blows.

But I do get to choose which part of the tree I become. 🌿

🤍 Continue the Conversation

If this reflection met you exactly where you are, I’d love to invite you a little deeper.

This Sunday, I’ll be hosting Soul Session: Hold Steady, an intimate Zoom gathering exclusively for members of the Extended Soul Tribe.

Together, we’ll continue this conversation, reflect on what it means to remain rooted through life’s changing seasons, and create space for encouragement, perspective, and genuine connection.

💜 Join the Extended Soul Tribe:

https://youtube.com/@themanjulaawakening/join

📌 The private Zoom link will be posted in the Extended Soul Tribe Community tab on Sunday morning.

I’d love to have you there.

Until Sunday… stay rooted. 🌿

— Ya Girl Keke