taking risks and blossoming

When I was looking up poems to read for this assignment, I started looking up poems by Shel Silverstein because I enjoyed his work so much in elementary school and that is the only poetry that I have read willingly and enjoyed. I soon felt, however, that I should try to find something with more relevance and depth but still simple. I’m really not one who enjoys long poems because I get lost and I can’t really take it all in. I looked up simple, short poems about random things like being lost and lonely. I fell upon this poem cause it flowers on it and it was short. I know, I really think hard about my choices. I found that I really love how simple it is and how much it makes me think about my own life and where I’m at right now as a person. I feel like this poem really captures what all of us go through. The changes, the growth, the development as human beings not only physically but emotionally and mentally. This day that Nin talks about comes for each and every one of us. It connects us as humans revealing that we all experience the pain, risks, and failures that lead us to blossoming if we so choose to let ourselves come out of that tight bud. I like knowing that taking a risk doesn’t have to be some grand and crazy decision. It can be introducing yourself to new people, or attempting a full-ride scholarship, or even breaking off a toxic friendship. It doesn’t matter how big or small the risk looks to the outside world. All risks have pain and fear involved for the individual taking it. What matters is how it changes you for the better and if it was the right thing. Coming out of your shell, however that looks like, might hurt, but refusing to grow and at least accept the risk of pain will stunt you and keep you from more joy than you can imagine. I think it’s also important to note that even once a flower has blossomed it keeps growing and changing. It doesn’t just stop. Each day it looks a little bit different just like all of us. Nothing is ever completely consistent but we have to find ways to adjust and be happy wherever we are, and not being closed off in a bud will help a lot. This poem really speaks to me in the place I am right now as I have seen changes in myself as I’ve taken risks. Some days I’m fully open and taking in the sun and other days I’m a bit droopy and closed off 🙂 I’m content in the fact that I am taking risks for the sake of blossoming and growing as a human being, and I know I am just doing my best to do the next right thing. Even though “Blossom” is the last word of the poem and there is a period to end it. I interpret the capital letter as an indicator that there is more to follow, further revealing that blossoming is not an end but a means.