After my divorce, I was single for a long time. For years, I was just surviving. I struggled because of toxicity that surrounded me. I continued to listen to bad advice. I remained in bad company. I appeared to be ok, but there was no significant growth in my life. My mindset was in survival mode only. Nothing more, nothing less, I just wanted to survive. Don’t get me wrong, we all should want to survive. But to be successful, we need to think beyond just surviving.
I decided I wanted more…I wanted to THRIVE as a single mom. God wants us to live life to the fullest, not just survive.
I took these photos of the flowers during the summer of 2020. I love flowers, each year my husband and I go to a local nursery to buy trays of flowers to plant throughout our yard. Last year, we bought these begonia flowers. I planted the hanging baskets and that same day we surprised our daughter and planted some in her yard. Normally, she plants her own but last summer she was on bedrest.
As summer progressed, I went over to water my daughter’s flowers daily just as I did with my flowers. Both begin to grow. Shortly, after we planted the flowers around the mailbox, my daughter’s landscaper put mulch around her flowers. After a few weeks later, I noticed that my flowers were growing well, but the flowers we planted around the mailbox seemed to have stopped growing.
Take a look at the difference of the two, the flowers in the hanging basket did so well, they blossomed and grew. But, as you can see, the flowers we planted around the mailbox didn’t do as well. They remained the same.
Well, we discovered that it was the mulch. The mulch was infested with insects that stopped the growth of the flowers. The environment around the mailbox became toxic. Her flowers survived all summer, but they did not thrive.
Just, like these flowers that were purchased from the same place, they all came from the same tray of plants and were planted on the same day. One only survived, but the other survived and thrived.
Now, let’s go back to those years after my divorce. I had to take a look at what and who was hindering my growth. I had to make a decision to walk away from a toxic situation. That’s when I started to thrive. It took letting go of my old way thinking and old habits.
What about you?
Does it seem like you’re stuck, not growing?
Are you speaking toxic words that could be stomping your growth?
Are you keeping company with toxic people?
Are you holding on to anger, resentment and thoughts of revenge?
If you said yes to any of these questions…you are merely surviving. These are all signs of toxicity. You can never THRIVE in a toxic environment.
Make a decision to do better this year. You don’t have to stay stuck just because you have become accustomed to your situation. Renew your mind in God’s word, and begin to take steps towards truly living and thriving.
“Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”