“When you feel like you’ve surrendered, surrender some more.”

Dear Universe,

I’m a firm believer that life, like nature, has seasons.

Sometimes it’s the season of planting a seed, or the season of watching it bloom, or the season of letting it go.

Each season brings a lesson to be learned—a way for our souls to grow.

When we can recognize the season we are in, and what the lesson may be, things can become easier to manage.

I thought of this the other day when I was catching up with a dear friend.

She has a lot on her plate. She’s caring for her ailing mother while supporting her father, who is naturally having a tough time.

As these things can sometimes go, it feels like one thing after another keeps happening, keeps adding to the confusion, pain and loss. It feels like for each step forward, there are steps back—dark and despairing. Yet, my friend keeps going, being the pillar of strength needed at this time.

She shared with me how hard it’s been to balance, to navigate each day when each one looks different than the one before.

What she described struck a chord with me, for an entirely different reason.

My beautiful baby boy is about to be four months old and since his birth everything—and I mean everything—has shifted and changed for me.

To be clear, life has shifted and changed for the better. Having him is the greatest blessing of my life.

We are still working on establishing routines, and schedules. Another friend had told me a while back, “as soon as you find a routine, it will change,” and she’s right!

This lack of a set structure is not something I’m used to. I’m the girl who makes lists and then gets right to tackling them. I’m the girl who gets a little thrill every time I can check said items off the list!

Nowadays, I make lists that don’t get my attention. I set internal deadlines I can’t keep. I watch days go by without knowing where they went.

My little one can somehow sense when I’m about to try and accomplish a task and he always derails my plans! I know this is a lesson for me—to be more present, to go with the flow, to prioritize better so when I do get some time, the right things are getting done.

Hearing my friend speak about what she’s going through, I had to ask what she thought the lesson for her was. What was she supposed to be learning?

She immediately answered with this one word: “surrender.”

It immediately clicked for me. Yes! Surrender! It was the perfect word for how I’ve been feeling. For I have found anytime in my life when I’ve tried to resist or push back on what’s happening, it only causes more chaos.

But when I surrender, there is a beautiful flow that naturally comes my way. I don’t feel as stressed or anxious. I just feel like I’m doing what I’m meant to be doing.

My friend went on to say, “Every time I think I’m done surrendering, I’m asked to surrender some more.”

I think the key to living well—or sometimes just living sanely—is to ask ourselves what season we are in or what lesson is to be learned.

Since my friend recognizes that she needs to work on surrendering, it makes her life a little easier now. Instead of fighting the tides, she’s riding out these tidal waves, waiting for the storm to pass.

And because I know that the most important thing for me to be doing right now is to be present with my baby and enjoying all the tiny-but-mighty milestones, most days I surprise myself with how well I surrender the to-dos so I can just be.

Being happy, being joyful, being present and being grateful usually take over the need to be doing this and doing that.

And it’s fulfilling me in a way that doesn’t compare to checking things off a list.

So here’s to a season of surrendering, being present and expressing gratitude every chance I get.

What season do you think you’re in?

With Gratitude,