Dormancy

In winter, some plants stop growing. Not because they are sick. Not because they have given up. Because they have decided it isn’t the right time.

They slow their metabolism, save their resources and wait. From the outside, nothing happens. On the inside, everything is being prepared.

We struggle with our own dormant periods. Quiet times worry us. We read them as setbacks, breakdowns, failures to produce. We force growth out of season.

But a plant pulled out of dormancy doesn’t flower any better. It wears itself out.

Perhaps some silences aren’t voids to be filled. Perhaps they are exactly what we need in order to burst into bloom in spring.