What happens when your flowers don’t bloom as you intended?

 

I asked myself this question as I looked at a once beautiful bouquet of flowers I recently purchased.

 

I know I don’t have the greenest thumb, but I figured the orange tulips that I purchased would at least open themselves up a little and bloom.  Instead, they stay closed and shriveled up only 3 days after I purchased them.

 

I was so hopeful at the beginning of the week as I wanted to try something new.  I wanted to start incorporating the use of fresh flowers in my humble abode.  Sounds good, right?!  I thought so as well.

 

To be honest, I didn’t expect the flowers to last forever, but could they have at least made it a full five days?

 

I began to think what could I do?  Could I have done anything different? Should I consider purchasing my next bouquet from a different location?

 

What now?

 

Thinking deeper about this experience, it reminded me of what happens when our expectations or hopes don’t match up with our realty.  What do we do?  Do we remain sad and devastated about our flower not blooming? Do we scramble and try to save something that wasn’t meant to last forever?  Better yet, do we just learn from the experience and plan for the next time?

 

The choice is yours, but each choice will produce different outcomes on your overall health and functioning.

 

If you choose the first option, you run the risk of getting stuck in the grief and loss of what we thought we could’ve had instead of looking forward to the other opportunities present around us.

 

If you choose the second option, you are trying to fix or repair something that may or may not have been meant to last.  While it could be worth trying to fix a situation, we have to be sure it’s a situation we should and we can fix.  Once flowers die the only hope you have is planting the flower bulb in fresh soil and cultivating it so it grows into a new and pretty flower.

 

If you choose the third option, you are recognizing and accepting the reality of the situation while actively pursuing alternatives.  You have gathered additional information from this experience to make more informed decisions if similar opportunities present themselves in the future.

 

Now I’ll ask you the question, what will you do when your flowers don’t bloom as intended?

 

I picked option 3.

 

Which option will you choose?

 

 

Sonya