Life is Perfectly Messy

While on a hike recently, I was taking in all the feels as I usually do. Even on this rather drab winter day, everything I saw took my breath away, as nature usually does.

I saw all types of trees in various shapes and sizes, gigantic moss covered boulders, streams finally filled with rushing water, ambling paths carved into the forest and bright blue skies with white puffy clouds.

I also noticed trees that had died or had to be cut down due to disease. It struck me that these toppled over trees and overgrown vines appeared “messy” to me against a canvas otherwise perfect.

This got me thinking about how I view life, including relationships, health, activity level, my environment, achievements, service, social calendar, etc. If things aren’t just right, in my mind, or perfect, then they’re flawed and in need of repair. If things aren’t tidy, easy, resolved, or how I think they should be, then I feel unsettled. I feel like I have to fix them, do better, be better, persevere, dissect, ruminate over and lose sleep to make them perfect. How exhausting!

Nature is perfect, in my opinion. Nature is a living, breathing entity, and with that, there’s growth, evolution, beauty, speed, and also, stillness, messiness, stagnation, death and, as with natural disasters, even unthinkable destruction.

Life, like nature, is unpredictable and trying to constantly control it would be like trying to control the effects of a hurricane. I’m letting go of these tight reins because nature has taught me that life is perfect, perfectly messy!