The Season of Letting Go

When I was seven, my grandfather took me to the edge of the woods behind his house in late October. He told me that the trees were not dying, but simply deciding they had carried enough for one year. He pointed to a single maple, its leaves turning the color of a rusted penny, and told me to watch how it let go. I spent the afternoon trying to catch a falling leaf before it touched the damp earth, thinking that if I could save it, the tree would stay green forever. I never caught one. I learned instead that there is a specific, quiet bravery in standing bare against the coming cold. As an adult, I find that we spend so much energy trying to hold onto the warmth of what has already passed, forgetting that the ground needs the fallen weight to prepare for whatever comes next. If we stopped trying to catch the leaves, would we finally see the shape of the branches?

Leanne Lindsay has captured this exact feeling of transition in her beautiful image titled Breenhold Gardens: Capturing the Colors of Autumn. It reminds me that sometimes, the most honest way to move forward is to walk slowly through the things we are leaving behind. Does the changing season make you feel heavy, or does it make you feel light?