As I officially closed out the 2025 gardening season, I found myself reflecting on how I approached pruning this spring and summer. There were basically two reasons that I cut branches back.

1. Because the branch was dying or dead.
2. Because a branch was getting in the way of another plant’s growth.

What a great lesson for me from nature. When I look at my own life, I can prune the exact same way. I can look for things that are simply not working and let them go, while also staying mindful of the parts of me that might be getting in the way of someone else’s development.

We talk often here about constantly evaluating the P-L-A-N  and being open to making changes. But as my children rapidly mutate into adults right before my eyes, I feel hyper aware of how my own fears and anxiety can directly impact their ability to grow. Much like a branch hanging over a flower, I can convince myself that I’m just protecting the flower. But after truthful examination, the reality is that I’m not only blocking the flower’s sun, I’m also limiting its room to grow.

In the beginning of Season Ten, I said that this year was about remembering who I am—not changing who I am. (link) For me, staying pruned isn’t about changing who I am, though—it’s about removing what’s not working, and making sure my branches—or in this case, my issues—aren’t getting in the way of someone else’s ability to reach for the sky.

How about you, TeamConfessioners—do you have any branches that need attention? Please share your thoughts on my website in the comment section below this post. I really do love to hear from you all on this topic.

Next week, a little tradition here at Confessions, I’ll be sharing this year’s, “All I Want for Christmas.” I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving yesterday and I’d be remiss not to express my gratitude to our TeamConfessions family for being so faithful to the podcast—it truly means the world to me, crew. Thank you everyone and take care~