Tough times, being re-born

Louise Glück was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2020.

In her book 'The Wild Iris' (1992), she describes the miraculous return of life after winter in the poem 'Snowdrops':

I did not expect to survive,
earth suppressing me. I didn’t expect
to waken again, to feel
in damp earth my body
able to respond again, remembering
after so long how to open again
in the cold light
of earliest spring –
afraid, yes, but among you again
crying yes risk joy
in the raw wind of the new world.

I love the poem, not least because it deals with the natural, unavoidable pains of trauma that we all feel at some point in our lives.

But the poem also deals, crucially, with being re-born after difficult times. It mentions experiences of growth and renewal, of joy, of our ability to feel and function again.

In consultancy and coaching, we need to question the value or validity of approaches, of ways of being. We need to dismantle, so that better forms of ourselves may be born afterwards.

Whilst frequently difficult, these times bring opportunity for personal and professional growth. And for experiencing joy as part of the process.