Lessons From A Succulent

When I would visit my dad for the weekend as a kid, the first thing I would do was point out all the things that changed in his house from my last visit…I wouldn’t miss a thing! I’ve always been that way. From micro-expressions on a person’s face, to the picture just slightly askew, I see details everywhere.

At a recent photoshoot, I couldn’t help but notice several succulents strewn around the house. The living room…the bathroom sink…an end table. I realized what an amazing role these tiny plants were playing in the atmosphere of the home. They barely took up any space, but they made a huge impact by where they were able to go. They were able to enhance places around the house in a way that a regular plant could not. Their smaller footprint actually drew my attention into that space and allowed me to notice it’s surroundings better than if a larger plant was in its place. It helped me see the home in smaller, bite sized pieces…the things that truly turn a “space” into a “room”.

It was a good reminder, that little things can be powerful. So often I think we believe we are suppose to be the large house plant; the big leafy green in the corner of a room that gets all the attention. Instead, I think we are the succulent. Small, amazing plants, put into specific spaces, that only we can fit into, for the purpose of making that place better. We are resilient, we are tough, we can endure the roughest of conditions. We are accent pieces made to help highlight the beauty in the world around us; to help people see the things that turn “being alive” into “ actually living”.

I wonder how much more rewarding our lives could be if we were better at embracing the smaller places we find ourselves? If we realized the seaminly insignificant, everyday situations we are in are the places we are meant to decorate. Our interactions with others, our workplace, our living room, our conversations…nobody can “decorate” those places the way you can.

In the end I’ve realized that life isn’t about how much space you take up, it’s about the difference you can make to the space you are in.