For a flower to bloom, a bean to sprout, or a tree to grow, it needs a lot of different elements. It needs sunlight, water, nutrients, the proper environment, and most of all it needs time. To grow healthy, strong, and for anything to live long, you need to have patience and understand that it’s a gradual process.
A relationship is like a plant. First, a seed needs to be planted. Maybe two strangers notice one another from across the room, or two friends feel a shift in their relationship, or you’re introduced to someone and feel an immediate attraction. Whatever it may be, it all starts with a spark.
After the seed of the relationship has been planted, it’s then up to you to decide what its fate will be. Will you nurture it and help it grow? Or will you leave it as it is and ignore it? If you choose to ignore it, well, it won’t go anywhere. Even if other factors are coming into play and helping it grow, it won’t progress because you aren’t making an effort and the relationship will end before it can even start. But if you choose to let it grow, then it’s the start of something.
As you take care of the seed that’s been planted and as you nurture your relationship and give it the attentions it needs, it will start to grow. You’ll take the time to get to know the other person, spend more time with them, talk to them, learn more about each other, and make them an active player in your life. Every gesture and effort you make is a step in the right direction, and it will help your relationship continue to grow and get stronger.
But be careful, if you go too fast and too aggressively, your relationship may drown or become suffocated. If you go too slow and don’t give it enough attention, it can wilt or dry out. If you give too much or too little too soon, it can die prematurely. Remember, it’s a gradual process and you need to have a balance, and it needs to stay consistent. Even if you’re able to grow a beautiful flower and find yourselves in a good place in your relationship, if you stop taking care of it or stop trying, it will stop growing and it will eventually die.
For a relationship to stay alive, it needs constant care and attention. If you make mistakes, you need to fix them right away. If you notice that it’s growing weak, you need to give it the support it needs. If you see that it has too much of something, you need to adjust and bring back the balance. It takes time, energy, and a lot of hard work to keep any relationship alive and thriving, and it’s up to you how long that will last.
If you choose to continue to work hard at nurturing the relationship and giving it the proper care and attention it needs, it will continue to thrive, and grow, and blossom into something beautiful and lasting. Eventually the seed of your relationship will grow into a beautiful garden or tall standing tree, and the longer it takes for it to happen, the more you’ll appreciate it when it finally does, because you worked hard to make it beautiful and strong, and anything worth having is definitely worth waiting for.
- Loise-anne Gahol
