Tuesday Thoughts and a Story from the Past

Isabelle
Aug 5
3 min read

Hi Friends,

I trust last week’s words about receiving encouraged you. The above picture shows my oldest son (now 31) in a wildflower field in Switzerland.

From Ivy to Wildflower: Growing Without Permission

There’s something about wildflowers that catch my breath every time. Maybe it's their unapologetic colors, or the way they bloom where no one told them to. They don’t ask for space. They take it—in ditches, between sidewalk cracks, across meadows and mountainsides. They don’t wait for someone to water them or place them in neat rows. They grow in community, rooted in shared soil, supported by the unseen network of mycorrhizal fungi beneath the surface—trading nutrients, information, even warnings about approaching threats. They grow together. Not competing. Just being. And thriving.

That’s how wildflowers work scientifically and soulfully. Botanists have discovered that these plants flourish most in biodiverse environments, where no single flower dominates the others. They attract bees, butterflies, and birds, contributing to the entire ecosystem just by being themselves. They aren’t manicured. No one prunes them into shape. And yet—they are breathtaking.

When I was a teenager in Germany, I remember a moment during a youth group gathering. We were playing a game where we had to describe each other using metaphors. A friend of mine said I reminded her of ivy—strong, clinging to something, always growing. At the time, I loved that. I wore it like a badge of honor. Strong. Determined. Always climbing. It made sense. My life, even then, was about holding on. About surviving.

But lately, I’ve been rethinking that metaphor.

During a recent mini course I hosted for women in midlife, I found myself in a moment of deep reflection. I was speaking about how we see ourselves—how we’ve been seen by others—and I heard myself say out loud, “I don’t want to be ivy anymore.”

Because the truth is, I’ve been strong for a long time. Strong through a long marriage that eventually ended. Strong raising six children. Strong while building a business. Strong when I was tired of being strong. And while that strength served me, there are days now where I crave softness. I want to grow, not by clinging—but by unfolding.

That’s when the image of a wildflower came to me. Not ornamental. Not planted in rows. But free. Rooted in the right environment, supported by an unseen sisterhood underground, blooming fully without needing to prove anything to anyone.

Wildflowers don’t bloom in isolation. Their strength is in their connection. Their diversity. And they don’t need a trellis to climb. They stretch toward the sun because that’s what they were made to do. No one tells them how. They just know.

I wonder how many of us midlife women were told we had to be ivy—cling to a role, a partner, an identity. Be strong. Hold it all together. And maybe, like me, you’ve outgrown that. Maybe you’re tired of being strong all the time. Maybe you’re ready to just… bloom.

Not because someone says you’re allowed to.

But because it’s your nature.

So, if no one has told you lately: It’s okay to change metaphors. It’s okay to be the wildflower now.

Unmanicured

Here is your week's affirmation:

I am free to grow wild and true—rooted, radiant, and real.

Isabelle

PS: Message me for a free consult to start moving toward a more confident you.

You are loved. Deeply loved. Loved beyond measure.

Until next time,

Isabelle