MAY - The Month to Fully Stretch our Necks

I think of the seasons of winter and spring as a turtle. In winter, we retreat into our shells and barely peak out. For some of us this a physical retreat into our homes, for others it’s an emotional retreat. Both allow time to pause, reflect, regroup and rebalance.

Come March, we slowly start to peak out and stretch our necks a bit, carefully, tentatively - physically and metaphorically. April beckons us to stretch a little more, to look around and maybe see things with new eyes. there is hope. We’re not sure, but nature is flourishing. Maybe we can too.

May bursts on the scene beckoning us to really stretch our necks fully.  We no longer need to withdraw inside our shells. BUT the last twelve months have been abnormal, to say the least.  It would be so easy to stay with our head inside our shell, occasionally peeking out.  That might seem like the safest thing to do.  Stretching our necks out takes effort, grit and courage. There’s that long-standing expression about “sticking my neck out” that applies to risky situations.  This is a risky situation we are all in.   The question is:  Are you willing to stick your neck out? Even in the face of uncertainty, confusion, and “I really don’t know what to do or what I’m doing or how this is all going to land”.

Humans are resilient and the human spirit is tenacious if we get out of our own way and give it space to flourish.  We don’t need to have all the answers.  We don’t need to have figured it all out.  We just need to stretch our necks out bit-by-bit, day-by-day. 

 It’s like being on your yoga mat.  A new posture, new cues.  Sometimes we don’t get it right away, but we stick with it, and every time we’re on the mat, we gain more confidence, we trust our bodies more, we find new abilities and that gives us the staying power to try again, try more the next time we meet on the mat.  That’s what these times ask of us. That’s what sticking our necks out requires:  to trust ourselves; to know we can.