I’m so excited about my Carolina jasmine! It’s quite beautiful, flowering and spreading all over my backyard pergola.
I’ve waited a long time for this.
The garden adage for growing vines is, first year sleep, second year creep, third year leap. Or, for all plants: first year SLOW, second year GROW, and third year SHOW. Which is exactly what’s happening out there!
The first year of my new backyard garden, the vines barely rose up the side of one post. The next year, they reached further, but they didn’t cover overhead. The third year, they finally started to cover the pergola.
Today, the vines hold a very generous sprinkling of yellow flowers, which I just love. It’s a reminder to me of spirit, of sunshine, and of warmth. What’s extra nice is that the Carolina jasmine is native to this area, so I know it’s in its rightful place.
Which is how I’m starting to feel about Women Writing for (a) Change, Jacksonville.
I think I’ve been through the “slow” stage, as I gathered my certifications and gained clarity about what I really wanted to do with my life. Last year, which was the first year we were open for business, I tried to focus on one thing at a time, do that well, and not get too far ahead of myself! (“Sloooow down,” my mentor Diane likes to say. “Sloooooow down!”)
Now that we’re in the second year, I can take some of the lessons learned and add them, like fertilizer, to the roots of my business, working toward “deep and concentrated” rather than “wide and shallow.” It’s not easy, actually. In my eagerness, my passion, my enthusiasm, I want to go here, there, and everywhere, holding circles and “spreading the joy.” I have vision, and I have fire, as another mentor, Beth, likes to say.
But I am also guided by what we at WWf(a)C like to call the Conscious Feminine, a leadership style that takes a long view, and cautions against unlimited growth and reckless speed.
Enough is enough.
When I go slow, I go fast.
Easy does it.
These are all adages that keep my entrepreneurial garden healthy. I have other garden wisdom to guide me, such as, “Plant it and it shall grow.”
So let me sprinkle a few more seeds, soon to blossom into full-blown events (UNF Hike, or Open Mic Night) that will create new gardens of words, of wonder, of consciousness, right here in Jacksonville. These gardens will give life to the stories, and talent, that are native to our region.
I’m not trying to plant too much.
Just enough.
Because this much I know is true: Women’s stories are valuable. Women’s wisdom is needed. Conscious women’s leadership is part of a cure for what ails this world.
That’s what we’re cultivating.
Here.
In the garden called, “Women Writing for (a) Change.”