Look at all the destruction.
All the trees down.
There are certain trails around Asheville I’ve walked so many times on my Morning Miles, I’ve come to know their energy.
But after Helene — the devastation, and the survival energy that still pervades our region — the trails just aren’t the same. The landscape has changed. And with it, the way I used to ‘naturally’ feel.
The old default — Oh, this is lovely, I love the Mountains to Sea Trail, I can just stroll along and bask in the beauty — that’s cracked. It’s like a picture frame that once held the beauty steady is now broken on the ground. The corners are scattered. Nails sticking up. Nothing holding the center.
And it’s not just the trails. It’s the frames we had around our work, our families, our identities. Some of them fell apart, too.
And maybe that’s okay, and we can be Thriving Anyway.
Because not all frames are useful. And by useful, I mean: do they support something that actually helps us be thriving now?
Sometimes, I’ll start walking and see the first downed tree, or the huge root ball yanked from the earth — and there’s that gut reaction. But over the past six months, it’s gotten quieter in me. And you know what’s helped the most?
Reframing.
That’s been essential.
Reframing how I choose to see things has shifted my capacity to enjoy myself, my nature walks, my family, and my life.
It’s not passive — it takes energy. It’s a real skill.
And it’s a powerfully Useful Question to ask: How else could I look at this? What new frame could I hold up?
One of those frames for me is: Look up.
When I look up, I see tall, healthy trees swaying in the wind. And they do not feel like “survivors.”
They are that — they survived the hurricane — but even more than that, they have every intention of Thriving Anyway. Some trees are clearly receiving sun energy they didn’t before and are actively flowering, fruiting, and filling out.
To me, they feel aware. Like they know: It’s time to grow.
When everything’s changing — when what was is no longer — it’s easy to slip into survival frames. They’re full of grief, loss, helplessness. Overwhelm.
But the invitation — for those of us who want to thrive — is: Is there another frame I could try on?
You’ll know it’s working when it highlights what matters to you. When it helps you shift from survival energy to something steadier. Something where you feel like: I matter. I’m congruent with these actions. There’s something I can do.
Even if that something is just close to home — inside your own heart, your own body, your own radiance.
I’m not saying this is easy. But it is learnable. A real skill.
When I look at it this way, I feel sick in my heart and gut… I wonder if there is another way?
Because thriving, for those of us who are sensitive, doesn’t mean ignoring the destruction. We see it. We feel it. But we also learn to choose a frame that honors our heartistry, helping us find the beauty within the broken.
There was one section where the trees had fallen like Jenga blocks — total chaos. Trail stewards had cleared a path, so I could walk through, but the heartache came up: What will become of this?
And that question itself became a kind of frame.
Because when I looked again, I saw the squirrels — four, maybe five of them — darting around like it was a playground. Maybe a mating game, too.
Something had sprung already from the destruction. Something was becoming.
I share all this because I wish I’d had more people share the wisdom that we can look at the same situation through so many different frames.
Sure, we can get locked into one — especially survival frames (those rigid, binary, black-and-white ones).
But when you can actively practice sensing the world through different frames — for your thoughts, your life, your world — that’s a sign you’re returning to the fullness of yourself.
To your Thriving… Anyway.
Useful Concepts for Thriving in this Story
-
Reframing
Choosing a new perspective that invites possibility, not just survival. -
Awareness
Noticing what’s changed, what’s true, and how it feels in our body and being. -
Useful Questions
Asking ourselves gentle, powerful questions that open up new ways of seeing. -
Heartistry
Creating and perceiving beauty — even within the broken and uncertain. -
Congruence
Feeling aligned with how we’re seeing, choosing, and moving through life.