Embracing Surrender: Finding Growth and Hope in the Season of Spring

If you follow my practice on Social Media you recently saw a vulnerable post where I opened up about my own work of embracing surrender during a very difficult time. My 2025 word of the year was Capable and through some recent health related events I also decided to cultivate Surrender. I talk on that post about finding the unity between the two and as I've been focusing on bringing in that new word, I've also been noticing the ways that the earth is re-awakening after a long dark winter. The colorful daffodils and tulips are emerging from a cold, hard ground. The lovely pink dogwoods are showing off their beauty all over Knoxville and the frogs are back to their serenades in the evenings. As new growth pushes through, I've been left asking what if surrender isn't actually an end or a death but a very beautiful beginning?

The problem with surrender is that on the surface, it feels like giving up control. As humans we are programmed to want to hang on to the control of things – but sometimes holding on so tight makes it so difficult to navigate curve balls when inevitably we face things outside of our locus of control. But what if the control and the thing we're clinging to no longer serves us? What if life is taking us in a different direction? Surrender requires trust – and through trust we make space for new growth and healing to take place. Just like in nature, sometimes things have to die away in order for new growth to come and that requires making a choice to embrace faith and trust.

Spring is an invitation to step into hope. It reminds us that through the darkest seasons, new life can bloom. When we surrender the way we thought things were supposed to be, when we surrender the past and the future, we are creating space for the here and now and making a way for inner growth.

I also recognize that we are living in a time of political unrest and uncertainty which can make the concept of surrender even more difficult to embrace because it feels like a giving up or a passivity. But surrender is not about disengagement – it is about shifting our focus to the things within our control vs the things that are not. By shifting our focus to where our power lies we find ways to continue to advocate for change and navigate through a difficult time.

I'm often asked “But HOW do I surrender?” and the answer is that there is no black and white instruction manual. It's a concept, a perspective that we have to cultivate. My suggestion is to first write out the things you want to surrender. It could be the past, the future, what others think about you, home or career plans that went awry, really anything that is a point of stress or pain in your life. Now think about what it looks like and feels like when you're holding on to control in an unhealthy way. Do you get short-tempered? Do you hold tension in your body? Are you stressed a lot? Notice that feeling and meet yourself in it with the reminder of what you're choosing to surrender in that moment. Breathe deep and exhale surrender. This can set off a new brain response that can lead to actual peace and change.

Surrendering our own plans and means of control allows us to see new paths for hope. Even in the darkest winter, hope remains – even if it's buried beneath the cold hard ground – the ground made up of uncertainty, unrest, fear and pain. My offering for you is to take a lesson from Mother Nature - step outside – notice the sun still in the sky at 6:00 pm, notice the spring flowers pushing their way through the dirt, the buds on the trees that provide beauty in a dark time and seek out a connection of hope for yourself no matter what it may be.