A tree that has never been exposed to the wind will snap at the first storm.

A tree that has never been exposed to the wind will snap at the first storm.

We usually think that the strong tree has been lucky. Good soil, a sheltered spot, no weather to batter it. But it’s exactly the other way round. The tree that stands in the wind puts down deeper roots than the one you shield from every storm. The wind was there first. And the roots are the answer to it.

That’s how all living things grow. A deer doesn’t run fast simply because it fancies a bit of a sprint. It runs fast because there’s a wolf around. A muscle doesn’t get stronger if you just go easy on it. You push it until tiny tears form. And then it grows. Not during training, but afterwards, whilst it’s resting.

No organism in this world becomes stronger by having the challenge taken away from it.

And now here’s the funny thing. When it comes to our own lives, that’s exactly what we wish for. That things will finally become easy. Calm. Without resistance. That the difficult phase will pass, the uncertainty will end, and the headwind will die down. We wish the wind would go away. And we don’t realise that, in doing so, we’re wishing away precisely the very thing that would actually help us grow.

Now, you might think the solution is to grit your teeth, stick it out, and just get on with it.

But that’s not it. And that’s important to me.

Take another look at the tree. It isn’t fighting against the wind. It isn’t bracing itself against it, it isn’t tensing up, it isn’t building a wall. It lets the wind in and grows downwards. Very calmly. The roots do not form because the tree is fighting against something, but because it is exposed to the wind and responds from within.

That’s a big difference. Perseverance means fighting against something. Being constantly on high alert. In ‘fight-or-flight’ mode. And nothing grows in that mode. You’re just surviving.

Nor is it about protecting you. I don’t believe you need to protect yourself from life. You don’t need to grow a thicker skin, or build a shell, or put up a wall. You’ve long since carried your creative power within you. The challenge isn’t there for you to arm yourself against it. It’s there so that what lies within you can finally come out.

Because life is never against you. Even the difficult times are not against you. They are not there for you to simply endure. They are there to awaken something within you that was not needed before. An answer that would never have emerged without them.

The wind is the challenge. The stronger roots you develop are your response to it. The storm is not your enemy. It is an invitation to take yourself to a new level.

Perhaps what is really testing you right now is not the wall you’re facing, but the wind that helps your roots grow stronger.

And so, in the end, there’s just one question left. Namely, yours.

In which area of your life do you currently wish the headwind would go away – the one that would actually help you grow?