I Grew When I Changed My Environment
How changing where I was helped me grow.
Hi there!
When I was 20, I ran away from home.
No, not in the living on the streets, face on a milk carton kind of way. Instead, I walked away from my family and most of my friends to make a new life 900 miles away in Tennessee.
It was 100% a bipolar episode, though my diagnosis wouldn’t come until three years later.
I needed out of the chaos, so I ran.
Fortunately, God was looking out for me, and everything fell into place. I found work, starting my own business, and created a chosen family of wonderful friends near my new home.
My move crushed my parents. What they didn’t understand–what I didn’t even understand–was it was the best thing. I had resurfacing memories of trauma tormenting me, and I needed a safe place to work through them.
“When a flower doesn’t bloom, you fix the environment in which the flower grows not the flower.”
- Alexander Den Heijer
Scott Ninneman also publishes the free All Things Bipolar Newsletter (off Substack). The Sunday email features the newest content about bipolar life.
Learning From Roses
In many ways, my yard is now my sanctuary.
Nearly every month of the year, the landscape calls to me, giving me a job to focus on. From cleaning out flower beds and trimming trees in the spring to raking and mulching leaves in the fall. The time outside, connecting with nature, refreshes my soul.
A few years ago, I had the idea of planting a row of knock-out roses to serve as a hedge along my property line.
Beautiful in concept, I quickly learned rose bushes don’t thrive in full shade. All but one of my plants died. The remaining one I moved to a new spot this year where it is finally taking off and growing flowers for the first time.
Living in Wisconsin, I was a rose bush planted in the wrong location.
While I could have survived in that world, I never would have thrived. I needed time, space, and room to blossom. My friends in Tennessee gave me what I needed to make it through the turbulent years that followed.
In the right environment, I learned to thrive.
Change Your Environment
In the end, everything worked out for me.
My dad retired a few years later and my parents moved to be near me in Tennessee. It took some time, but we rebuilt our relationship and it was stronger than ever in the two years before my dad died. I’m now my mom’s primary caregiver and happy to do it every day. I’m a thriving flower in a place I never imagined I would be.
If you’re not flourishing where you are, it might be time to consider a change.
Whether it’s a change in relationship, job, location, or medication, a fresh start may be just what you need. Make changes to your environment and watch yourself grow.
Have you ever changed your environment and found amazing results? Please share your story in the comments. (Please consider becoming a paid subscriber so you can comment.)
Journal Time
Explore new environments with these writing prompts.
Journal Prompt: Write about a time when moving to a new environment improved your life. What lesson can you learn from your experience?
Creative Writing Prompt: Write a story that includes a flower that thrives after being moved. The flower could be the main character or a part of another character’s story. You choose and see where your story takes you.
Until next time, keep fighting.
Scott Ninneman
Additional Reading:
Disclaimer:
This email may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through one of these links, I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.