When to move on: lessons from a pine tree

When my husband, Bob and I bought our little cabin in Northern Arizona’s Rim Country in 2022, we transplanted our foot-tall Christmas tree, “Jack” on the back of our two-acre parcel. At first, our pine experienced transplant shock and it was touch-and-go for a while. We compared this to our own growing pains adjusting from desert to mountain life. But after surviving our first snowy winter in more than two decades, both us—and Jack—were heading in the right direction. The second year, however, Bob and I struggled with discouragement over several setbacks and disappointments we faced. Yet Jack continued to push through the months ahead. Unfortunately, by spring of 2024, Jack had ceased to survive and, come fall, we added him to the woodpile. We’ve begun to revisit our circumstances and question if we’re still planted in the right place, or if it’s time to move on to a new adventure before we, too, stop thriving.

How do you know when it’s time to move on?

Photo by Matthew Smith on Unsplash