🖋️ The Lioness Journals | September 15, 2025
As summer comes to an end and we step into fall—with cooler evenings, pumpkin-spice lattes, and bursts of color across the trees—I find myself grateful for this season of change. I love wrapping up in a blanket by the fire pit, roasting marshmallows, and breathing in the beauty of a crisp autumn night.
But nature isn’t just beautiful—it’s wise. As the leaves shift into brilliant reds and golds, they’re beginning the process of letting go. The scientific term is senescence—when trees stop producing chlorophyll so they can store nutrients, conserve resources, and prepare for winter.
And it struck me: maybe we’re meant to do the same.
How often do we cling to grudges, hurts, or the wrongs that others have done to us? When we hold on tightly to resentment, we forget how toxic it can be. That anger keeps us rooted in the past, replaying disappointment and pain instead of stepping into the healing available in the present.
The truth is, staying stuck in the past doesn’t just rob us of today—it holds us back from tomorrow. You cannot move forward when you’re still anchored to what’s already gone. A tree cannot survive the winter if it refuses to shed its dead leaves.
My daughter put it beautifully: “The trees in this season show us we have to shed dead leaves to bloom in spring.” Her words stopped me in my tracks, because she’s right. Letting go isn’t just about surviving—it’s about creating space for new growth, new joy, new life.
This past year, I had to face one of my own “dead leaves.” For so long, I let my career and profession define me. My job title, my education, my accomplishments—I clung to them as if they were my identity. But the harder I held on, the more I realized that leaf was no longer alive. It had served its purpose, but it was keeping me from discovering who I really was—and from stepping into the future I am meant to have.
It wasn’t until I shed that leaf—until I released the belief that my worth was tied only to my career—that I found where my happiness truly lived. That release became part of my transformational journey, and ultimately, the birth of Roar Like a Woman.
When a tree sheds its leaves, it’s letting go of what was, protecting itself for the present, and trusting in the promise of spring. We’re invited to do the same.
So I ask you: what are the “dead leaves” in your life that you’re still clinging to? Maybe it’s a hurt, a title, a relationship, or a belief about yourself. Until you release it, you can’t create the space for the blooms that are waiting for you.
Take some time this week to reflect. Write them down if you need to. And then, step by step, begin the process of letting go. Because your future blooms deserve the space to grow.🌸🍃
— With Gratitude,
Ronda 💛
📖 Want More?
My own journey of shedding and blooming is woven into every chapter I’ve written, and I’d love to share more of that with you.
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