What Palm Trees Can Teach Us about Weathering COVID-19

I’ve always loved palm trees, in fact I grew 89 palm trees on my quarter-acre retreat in West Palm Beach between 1999 and 2009. They are majestic, stunning in beauty, and fearless in the wake of adversity.

In the fiercest of hurricane-force winds, palm trees keep standing while those around them fall and get blown around uncontrollably. An 18-wheel tractor trainer gets blown over by 145 mph winds. Palm trees just dance with the wind.

The take-home message that palm trees teach us

Powerful, life-threatening winds do not weaken the palm tree’s root system. In fact, quite the contrary. The root system is actually strengthened by these storms. When the going gets tough, the tough palm trees get going.

When palm trees face hurricane-force winds, the roots stretch and grow stronger. If palm trees could talk, I'm quite sure they'd tell us they'd prefer gentle breezes, sunshine, and liquid sunshine from time to time. But to the extent that they flourish when the weather is calm and inviting, they flex their rooted muscles, never fear the winds, stand tall, bend, but never break when the forceful storms set in.

The lesson here is that life's adversities (life-threatening winds) come and go. COVID-19 and all the sideshows we are facing today are category 5 adversities: uncertainty, financial and unemployment issues, health challenges, racial issues, deep political divisions, and all the new "abnormals." And all these are creating a tsunami of personal and professional issues for just about everyone.

It's okay to bend - but not to break

As I have been writing about and preaching for decades, the pursuit of anything worthwhile suggests we will inevitably meet massive resistance and adversity. Difficulties, uncertainty, stress, disappointment, and frustration are, and always will be, an essential aspect of success achievement. The key is how classy, dignified, and poised we are working through the storms, i.e., how we bend, adapt, and weather hardship.

As we approach the 2nd half of 2020 with COVID, an upcoming election, a deep recession, and new normals that are still very much abnormals, rather than feeling hopeless, angered, and resentful, let's allow the winds to bend and stretch us, so we can grow and become stronger and more resilient.

And this new strength will allow us to become "unstoppable" and bounce back just like palm trees do. When things get tough - don’t give in or give up. Rather, give a good bend and then get back on your feet. Then you, like a palm tree can say... "I'm still standing."

Don't you know I'm still standing better than I ever did; looking like a true survivor, feeling like a little kid

I'm still standing after all this time, picking up the pieces of my life without (this COVID) on my mind

- Elton John