Ever try to pull out a dandelion and end up with a fistful of leaves instead? This small but mighty weed is resilient, prolific and impossible to ignore.
It braves harsh weather, loves poor soil and casts its seeds around the world. Dandelions support themselves using a taproot, a pillar of strength that drills deep into the Earth and anchors the plant. So even if you pull off its stems, leaves and flowers, it will regenerate and thrive again.
Most people hate dandelions because they are seemingly impossible to destroy, spread like crazy and dominate lawns like no other.
I admire them.
You’ve got to give them the credit they deserve.
They’ve evolved to not only survive, but thrive in conditions other plants cannot. They are hardy and determined. Possessed by a singular mission: to replicate itself thousands of times over, everywhere. And you know what, it’s not even their fault that we never aerate, mow, fertilize or water our lawns, thus causing all the grass to wither and the weeds to take over. We hate weeds’ stubbornness, but it was our own negligence that enabled them in the first place.
When I was a kid, my dad told me to be a dandelion. “Dandelions are not glamorous, but they are resilient. They will thrive where others perish.”
I told him I didn’t want to be an ugly flower that nobody liked. I’d rather be a greenhouse beauty, like an orchid.
Yet now I think of all the pretty potted plants I’ve killed in the last decade.
Too much water and they rot. Too little and they wither.
Too much sun and they burn. Too little sun and they sag.
Dandelions suffer from no such hardships. Dandelions persist despite all hardships.
It’s hard to be resilient in the face of an ever-changing world.
Harder still to survive in a harsh environment and not be recognized for it.
But just because others aren’t recognizing your successes (big or small), doesn’t mean you shouldn’t recognize yourself and acknowledge your own triumphs.
Grow your taproot, expand your reach, anchor yourself and become an unshakeable pillar of strength.
People may hate your resilience, but it won’t matter.
You exercise and empower yourself for you, not others.
We may be average dandelions, but we are strong, and I’d take strength any day.
Pretty blooms last but days, strong taproots are forever.
Jackie 8/23/19