I Am An Evergreen

October 2025-

It is autumn and I am finding my plate more full than ever and I am trying to find its meaning. I gain my deepest lessons by observing nature and asking it to tell me what I need to know because the mental part can be so loud that it can over speak what’s spiritual.

I laugh at my evolution because I used to be nose deep into reading and research human when I had questions about life and now I go barefoot outside, talk to the trees, pray, make a spiritual bath, light a candle and give thanks to the ancestors and then go to sleep before I even go to a book or device to find an answer.

But now the season is changing and the things that I intentionally chose not to engage with after my masters degree from Columbia ——higher education, the networking within white spaces, the nonprofit world, and pitching oneself in front of others, are getting closer and closer to my doorstep. These are worlds that I am going to go back to.

I did well in their world because I didn’t have my own. Now I have my own and the need to be accepted is no longer there. I also carry knowledge within my bones and blood that can’t be Googled in a quick moment to fact check me and I don’t care if they think I’m wrong.

I’m sturdier than I was before and for that I am grateful. That strength is not only needed but necessary for the survival of my Spirit.

I am not shedding my leaves this fall like the deciduous trees do. I am finding myself as an evergreen tree—-built to be green all year regardless of the season. I need all the lessons, experiences and moments for this next iteration of self.

The season is calling for something different and so shall I be. I will write more as the evolution continues.

May you hear the answers you seek in the Creator’s creations.

In community in word and in deed,

Ashley