My Spirit Animal: The Birch Tree

So, can we all agree that we’re all floating on a haze of uncertainty right now? Schools are closed. Businesses are closed. I can’t walk in to a Kwik Trip and get a fountain Coca-Cola with a squirt of cherry – that’s a BIG one for me, guys. I’ve got to prep my face-to-face college classes to be delivered virtually. From here on out, I get to homeschool my kiddos. Oh and I have a daughter who is supposed to be getting married in July (FINGERS, TOES, AND EYES CROSSED). To say my anxiety is on the rise is like calling the iceberg the Titanic hit a snowflake. I think we are all starting to wonder if we will or have hit our breaking point.

I went on a jog today to try and battle the #quaratinefifteen (that would be on top of my already #idonotknowhowithappenedfifteen). About ten minutes into my jog, I saw what I thought was a large branch that was awfully close to the side of the road. Being the good citizen that I am, I jogged over towards it to move it further from the road. As I got closer, I realized it wasn’t a large branch but a smaller birch (I’m pretty sure it was birch) tree. It was arched so far I assumed that it had snapped right where the trunk met the ground. I walked a few steps off of the road – almost peed myself when a bunny hopped up and away from the tree area – in an effort to move the tree. Upon closer inspection, I realized that it wasn’t a broken, fallen tree. I was shocked to see the birch was still very much connected to its roots and alive. I mean, how in the heck??? This birch had to have been a contortionist in a previous life. I don’t know if it had been buried under the snow this winter and just grew that way but it somehow had been thriving.

I jogged away not seeing anything there for me to do but I thought about that birch tree for the rest of my jog. How often to we feel stretched to our limits? How many times do we feel pressed down by the weight of the world, suffocating and not sure we’ll ever feel light again? We just know that one more bad thing, scary thing, sad thing, stressful thing, and we’re going to break? And yet, somehow we don’t. We bend but don’t break.

Once I got home, I spent time with my kiddos and the hubs. They’re kind of a captive audience at the moment and have to deal with me – #sorrynotsorry. After they all headed to bed, I felt compelled to look up information on birch trees. Nerd alert? Seriously, if you know me, you should have that figured out by now. Anyhow, birches are FREAKING AWESOME. The birch can survive in any kind of soil. It has the ability to regenerate and live in soil that is damaged or seems uninhabitable. Beyond that, it can sustain and revive surrounding damaged soil. It has the ability to actually CHANGE the soil around it (“#22 Birch Tree”). Most importantly it is “…highly adaptive and able to sustain harsh conditions with casual indifference” (“Just Fun Facts”). Causal. Indifference. Duuuuude…the birch has no time for your dirt. That settles it. I want the birch tree to be my spirit animal. Who’s with me?

I can survive in any kind of soil I’ve been planted or plunked in. No matter what damage I sustain, I will regenerate (Well, maybe not regenerate until I get that Adamantium transplant…), heal and do my best to revive those who surround me. More than that, I will work to CHANGE the soil, the world around me for the better. I will adapt and weather harsh conditions with casual indifference.

At this point, you’re thinking quarantine-time has addled my brain. You’re probably not completely wrong. However, I want you to go back and read the previous paragraph but read the “I” as yourself, not me. You may ask, how can I be so sure of my or your strength and adaptability? How can YOU not? The past couple weeks have allowed me to slow down and look. To really see people. Perhaps I’m naive, but I believe we are all (with the exception of a very small, random selection) innately good humans who just want to do the next right thing. (Thank you for that Frozen 2!) Who just want to help each other.

So, I don’t know who needs to hear this but if you’re feeling pressed down by the weight of what’s going on, just remember my friend the birch (yep, we’re friends now). You may be arching and bending, hurting and weighed down, reaching and stretching to what feels beyond your capacity BUT…

you

will

not

break.

Sources

“#22 Birch Tree Symbolism & Meaning.” Tree Symbolism & Meanings Dictionary , treesymbolism.com/birch-tree-symbolism-meaning.html.

“Just Fun Facts.” Fun and Interesting Site, 1 Jan. 1967, justfunfacts.com/interesting-facts-about-birch-trees/.