I am often asked what I mean when touting the phrase “thriving from ashes.” While it’s a catchy one-liner, the meaning is not the most obvious. Allow me to clarify here. Let’s start with ashes.
Ashes derive from fire. Fire’s duality to both create and destroy has always been intriguing and is synonymous with most human experiences. For instance, trauma has the ability to produce both immense devastation and remarkable growth. Even more interesting is how creation and destruction are not mutually exclusive occurrences. One can often be the catalyst for the other. I experienced this as my marriage crumbled and my concept of self went with it. It was gut-wrenching. However, as that version of me withered and burned to ashes, space was created for this current version of me to form and blossom.
This leads to the concept of thriving. What does it mean to thrive? The more definitive meaning is to grow vigorously or to prosper. However, prosperity and growth are more nuanced and particular to individual determination based on values and goals. It will look different depending on where you are in life and which growth edges you deem as connected to achieving a more desirable life. There is the potential to have as many definitions for thriving as there are those who want to thrive. There is, however, one requisite that precedes thriving for everyone: it is the ability to let ashes be ashes and not try to put the ashes back together again. Thriving from ashes means acknowledging the decay in your life that no longer serves you, accepting that looking back is futile, and allowing yourself to transform your life into something new that radiates and flourishes.
