The Tree of Life Blossoms!

We recently moved buildings at work and I moved into an office. I have never been a fan of plain white walls. In my own home I have pained a majority of the walls or have the wall covered with photos and paintings! I feel like it breaths life into my home! Now that I have my own office at work, I have the same urge of creating an environment that exudes positive energy! Especially since I spend most of my days/hours at work.

It took several days... ok, more like a couple of weeks here and there during my breaks to put up the Tree of Life! It took me several months prior to that to pick the right color for the tree! Then with a labor of love putting up the flowers of the tree just right to create this beauty! Everyone asks me, "did you paint?", no it is a decal put up one flower at a time. The interesting part, it was painful when I started with the trunk of the tree. It did not want to stick to the wall very well and constantly was peeling back off the wall. I was pretty dishearten for the first week or so, trying to figure out how I was going to make it stay on the wall! Darn cheap paint. I suppose, similar to my own recover in Al-Anon. I was disheartened in the beginning trying to figure out how I was going to make my life more manageable and help what I learned stick!

After fretting for a few days, I reached out for help and several friends made some suggestions. I had to work with the limitations that it is a wall at work, but within some healthy boundaries I did find a solution with the help of a friend. It worked wonders! With the reborn hope, I started to slowly add the flowers to the wall. It was rewarding to watch the tree blossom over time. As it started to take shape, my excitement grew quickly and I was eager to put the final touches on the tree! I can relate to that joy and excitement to come to a point of accomplishing something that feels good in my own recovery. What I have to remember is to continue to carry that joy and excitement for life and continued accomplishments into each day. Just because one activity has been completed, life continues to grow and rejuvenate around me. My tree of life wall decal is done, but if it was a real tree, it would eventually shed it's flowers, live through the winter, and then in the spring continue to grow bigger and healthier with new flowers. I want that beautiful cycle for my recovery. The continual of shedding the layers of grief, anger, resentments, and sadness that plague my mind and heart. I am grateful I have many seasons and opportunities to enrich the soil around my tree of life and continue to reach for the sky filled with hope!