Last summer a vine choked my hostas. I noticed the vine, but I kept putting off removing it until it was too late — the vine wrapped its way around the throats of the flower shoots and choked them.
The vine was pretty. Fluorescent green and thin. Delicate. It didn’t look like it would harm the hostas, but it did.
Often in our lives, it takes a while to know what is choking us in the figurative sense. It can also take a while to know what makes us bloom.
It takes a lot of paying attention as well as action.
We need to pay attention to the direction we take. The choices we make. Bloom when we’re supposed to bloom. Rest when we are supposed to rest. Recognize the factors that detract from our growth even if they appear harmless.
This spring, I plucked the vine up when it was tiny. Before it could spread and spiral. Next year, I will thin out the hostas. I didn’t think to thin early enough this year and that is okay. I completed the action that was the highest priority: removing the vine.
What is the top-priority action you need to take to bloom?
Please click on the green heart to recommend this story to others. Find my Friday Inspiration sign-up where this post was originally published: www.everydayessays.com.
Originally published at medium.com