I don’t know how to prove it one way or another, but I feel like I’ve been a late bloomer in a lot of things in life—particularly in skills related to self-awareness and emotional intelligence. On my hike this morning, I encountered this tree in the SnowFlex Centre parking lot. It stopped me in my tracks. It’s blooming earlier than the trees around it with more color than they are or even will. It’s changing seasons first.
I hiked while listening to Think Again, a book about how to have an open mind, how to know when to change an opinion. In it, Adam Grant claimed in the first chapter that it starts with humility. Growth can’t happen without change, and change can’t happen without admitting change is needed. We have a choice: to be pliable and aware of our finiteness or have our pride break us.
This tree reminded me to be humble, to answer “I don’t know.” Absolute beauty can blossom from the soil of our admitted ignorance or even just our quiet distrust of our perceived omniscience.
