Are You a Crocus or a Daffodil?

As I emerge from this long COVID winter, having kept myself safely isolated in our home for the most part, I’m noticing what’s happening in our garden. The crocuses are in full bloom and the daffodils are starting to emerge too.

I think about the crocus flower, so delicate and yet so brave to just throw itself up into the air, vulnerable to the weather. Some years they battle through the snow. Luckily, this year it was warm and sunny.

Daffodils on the other hand, emerge slowly and steadily, “testing the waters” and keeping their beautiful flower inside a protective bud that waits till the coast is clear. As I walk past a nearby home with 100 feet of daffodils lining the front fence, I notice that the daffodils with more sun are taller and the buds more mature. It’s showing me how important sunlight is to the flower’s development.

In some ways I am like a crocus. I throw myself into things that I am excited about, whether I know what I am doing or not, and before FEAR keeps me from changing my mind. It makes me completely vulnerable to whatever might happen. For example, I bid on a skydiving adventure fundraising prize for my daughter’s church and won it! When I’m brave enough to use this gift card, I’ll be vulnerable like a crocus hurtling myself out of a plane and flying through the air (with a parachute and a tandem guide).  “If George Bush can do it at 80, I can do it too!”, I keep telling myself. Unlike the crocus, I’m going to wait till summer when the air is warmer up there!

Most of the time, I’m more like a daffodil. My ideas brew underground, waiting for things to warm up. I test the waters, speaking to friends and colleagues about it, and eventually my ideas emerge above ground and get some sunlight. The more exposure to “sunlight”, the faster my idea matures and the sooner I take action on it.

When are you the crocus and when are you the daffodil?
How many ideas remain underground and never see the light of day?
What is your “sunlight”?

Enjoy playing with this metaphor as much as I have, and Happy Spring!