Halloween was not a good holiday for my aloe plant.
He’d been enjoying life on my balcony…and then it decided to snow. I’m not such a good plant mom, and I left him out in the elements.
He didn’t react well. He’s now a two toned aloe plant. He sporting some nice brown leaves these days.
I tried to take some artistic photos to include with this post…but let’s face it. He doesn’t look good.
As I’ve brought the little aloe plant inside and watched it begin to recover {I’m thinking it’s going to be at least 6 months}, it keeps reminding me about how sometimes it can take a long time to recover from a two hour snow storm.
Talking with some friends this summer about readjusting to the US and processing things that happened overseas…it was impressed upon me that “the length of the experience is not always proportionate to the recovery time.”
I have heard people say…I didn’t live overseas that long. Or, it was only a six month trip. Why am I struggling so much? Why is it taking this long to feel like I’m recovering? In my own reentry journey, I remember feeling like: it doesn’t seem like it should be taking this long to recover. My experience wasn’t that bad. I only lived overseas for a couple years. But it did take time…a long time.
The aloe plant is teaching me a bit about recovery. It’s not as simple as just bringing the plant to a new environment {and me remembering to water it}. Really the only thing that can heal it is time. No matter how much fertilizer and sunlight and water I give it, it still takes time for the damaged leaves to re-grow. And there’s not too much that can be done to hurry the process.
My reentry journey felt somewhat the same. I would try with all my might to speed the process. Maybe if I immersed myself more in the US, or got more involved in activities, or made good friends, or found a new church, or got the perfect job…that I could make the process go faster. But...time was required…more time than I wanted it to take. Time for my emotions to recover. Time for my new identity to gel. Time for equilibrium to balance out. Time for my stress levels to reset to a new normal. Time for my brain to adjust to all the change. Time for the grief process. Time for building new relationships.
I’m learning to accept that it’s true: Time Heals!
