The Beauty in Sisterhood During the Changing of Seasons
When you think of seasons changing, what do you think of? More specifically, when you think of Fall, where does your mind go? I think of sweater weather, fall foliage, the smell of apples & cinnamon, and of course THE Greatest Homecoming On Earth (Aggie Pride!). On a deeper level, Fall always reminds me of the beauty of letting things go AND the need to embrace change. The reality is that change comes whether we are ready, accepting, or expecting it.
What the most recent season of my life has taught me is that having a community or sisterhood to fall on during times of unexpected change- good or bad, might I add- is key. Not only having it but leaning on your sisters when you need them. I don’t know if it’s ever happened to you but I’ve found myself trying to navigate seasons of change alone. I recall feeling like I didn’t want to burden my friends with the ugly parts of what I was going through. I didn’t want to bring them down, and I didn’t want them to know the “strong” friend was having a moment. If I’m honest, that moment was like a quarter or a year, give or take.
It was three months of going through the motions while navigating some vast emotions I had the hardest time expressing. After all, it was my season and lesson to learn or unlearn. It wasn’t until I was listening to a podcast that I heard someone say, and I’m paraphrasing, “Tell your friends what you’re going through, because you’re going to need them if it works out, and even more if it doesn’t.” I had never looked at life that way. This comment made me second-guess how I was trying to navigate that season and life in general.
Can we acknowledge how true that is? We need our girls when it’s good and when it’s bad. I knew for a fact God never intended for me to do life alone, yet I found myself inside of my shell attempting to get through life without the people God sent to help carry me through it.
Yikes.
Have you ever faced anything big? Been through anything that seemingly felt insurmountable? Or something so good that a part of you didn’t want to share until the outcome was what you expected and wanted? I want you to think about that moment, in that season… Who did you celebrate with or who did you lean on? If your answer was no one, I want you to think about who you could have called to help and/or celebrate you.
There’s something to be said about the significance of the scene in the movie “Waiting to Exhale”, when Bernadine and her girls finally get together to “exhale.” Life had been “life-in”, and they needed to process all that they’d been through by getting the girls together and reconnecting. They used that time as a reminder that they weren’t alone, a moment to laugh, cry, and truly remember who they were at the core of it all. The older I get, the more I realize the importance of sisterhood. The importance of leaning on the people you were called to do life with when the going gets tough, or even when the going gets sweet.
As we welcome fall and all that comes with it, I hope you hold a little tighter to your sisters. I hope you open your hearts and minds to doing life with them. Truly tapping into what it means to have a solid sisterhood that allows you to be you in the good or bad but pushes you to be better.
Let’s chat soon!
The Light Coach
Helen Hargrove
