Don’t Wait for the Branch to Bend

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Heart

“Will you at least tell him I called?” I twisted my headphone wire around my finger.

“Sir, when I say he’s not interested, he’s not interested. Got it?”

“I understand but—”

She interrupted flatly, “Thank you.”

I sighed as the line disconnected. At least it wasn’t an actual hang up I thought. She did say thank you. Yeah, yeah that’s something.

I nodded and crossed that company off the list, and moved on to my next call, the 54th for this week.

I wound the wire again until my finger choked purple. Strange that felt good. Is that okay?

He hung up too so I crossed lead 55 off the list. As well as crossing off the family trip to New York, fixing the dent in my truck, and the tickets to the play next month.

I leaned back in the office chair gazing over the flickering screen at the distant sway of a green cottonwood tree out the window.

Shook my head in defeat. How, how did I end up here?

I use to have money.

Easy there, don’t let your imagination run, not crazy money. But some. And now, it’s Netflix and frozen pizza. Which is fine. But it’s every—single—night.

I fixated on the tree. You see it too, right?

Why couldn’t I be like the tree? Out there effortlessly flapping green abundance with every gust of wind.

I named it my ‘money tree’.

Each call I did, I was the tree. Sturdy. Steadfast. Immovable. Each leaf was a hundred-dollar bill stitched on the branch, with more budding right behind.

And the way the sunlight reflected the 100 off the lush crisp bills? So decadent.

When I called lead 129 that month, my money tree kept me rooted, kept my pulse, kept me hitting the next beat.

What happened??? I used to only make a dozen calls a month!

Crazy weather out there 🍃 

I sighed, ‘It’s okay Jonz. Just be like the tree.’ Steadfast. Immovable. Decadent.

Cottonwoods are deciduous. I knew that.

Yet still. I’m still stunned that I missed it coming. But I did. As the snow flurries fell, so did each leaf. So did the hopes of each crisp bill. It blew away.

Soon it was bare.

It got dark early those days.

You know those days?

Friend, you ever have those days?

Just me?

I lost sight of my money tree. I lost the Sun those days. The skies caved in earlier and earlier each day.

It was just me alone twisting the cord around my finger, purple again, making call 117 that month under the hum of a fluorescent light. That time I got to leave a voicemail. Ooh.

How did I not see winter season coming?

And that’s our practice this week. Are you with me? Are you practicing? Can we do our inner work together?

Can we light up the sky together to make an electrifying constellation? Is it possible?

This week’s practice: See The Seasons 🍃 🎐 

I didn’t see the ballooning interest rates, market dynamics, and the mounting industry competitors.

Boy, I wanted to keep doing the same thing. Make a handful of calls, then deposit those easy chubby checks 💰️ 💵 

The seasons changed, I should have too, and that made all the difference. I didn’t see the season.

Have you ever missed a season?

Missed that you went from lovers to everyday roommates?

Missed that you should’ve cut that product category, that SKU, or shrank that department?

Missed cutting the weight back when it was only an extra 15 pounds?

Missed saving up for the bucket list trip?

Back to the cottonwood tree. Don’t you think the cottonwood loves its bushy lush green leaves?

Don’t we?

The appeal, the shade, the protection, the safety. But—could those leaves just be an illusion?

At first I was embarrassed for the cottonwood, missing all of its leaves during autumn. How bare. How weak.

The cottonwood’s strength is its ability to change with the seasons. To See The Season. If it were to keep the leaves, the snow accumulates, and branch by branch, the weight aggregates until—snap!

Or if it just: stays the same, does the same, no changes here folks, and attempts keeping its leaves during winter, then it won’t have enough energy to send back to roots to survive frigid winter season.

The cottonwoods’ genius is letting go of the leaves.

I’m sure it wants to keep them and look important. But it lets go. It can See The Season. It adjusts. It grows alongside the changing circumstances. Can we?

Only then it comes back stronger in the spring right? Are you with me Friend?

What if—what if I would’ve seen the season sooner? Accepted the season?

This week, what’s one area where you can choose to adapt before the pressure arrives, so you stay light, and master the pressure?

Mind 🤯 

Trees lose their leaves for winter because of a precise intentional biological survival mechanism.

As daylight shortens and temperatures drop, a tree’s internal chemistry shifts: chlorophyll production slows, revealing yellows and reds as nutrients are reabsorbed into the trunk and roots. 🌳 

This process, called abscission, is triggered by hormonal changes, by a rise in abscisic acid and a drop in auxin.

Eventually the leaf detaches cleanly, sealing the wound to prevent water loss and infection. It’s a controlled retreat, a biochemical act of conservation.

Soul ⚡️ 

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”

—Charles Darwin

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