Rooted and Rising

I’ve been thinking about something I heard recently—I can’t remember where I read or heard it, but it’s been on my mind ever since. It was about how trees grow in both directions—toward the light and into the darkness, with and against gravity. They reach up toward the sky, stretching toward the sun, while also rooting deep into the earth, anchoring themselves in unseen places.  

As you know, my designs are often metaphors for something greater, and this idea resonates deeply with me. I love the thought that sometimes, when we feel like we’re being buried, we’re actually being planted. That from small things, great things grow. That life moves in cycles, and growth is happening even when we can’t see it. This is where the inspiration for our acorns comes from.  

When I’m at my lowest, I remind myself that I’m in the midst of something—learning, growing, being stretched in ways I may not yet understand. Healing can be hard work, but I’ve started to view discomfort differently. Every challenge I’ve faced has taught me something. Do I wish I could have learned those lessons without pain? Of course. But I don’t think that’s how growth works.  

I often want to protect the people I love from making the same mistakes I have, to warn them, to guide them. But I’ve learned that it doesn’t work that way either. We each have our own lessons to discover, our own paths to walk.  

I feel incredibly blessed and grateful for all that I have. But I’ve also lost much. And through those transitions, I’ve realized that some of the things I thought I wanted—things I was convinced I needed—were never meant for me. Some things I wasn’t ready for have returned when I was. Sometimes, God, the universe, or whatever force you believe in, knows better than we do.  

People have entered my life in the most spectacular ways, only to leave again. But I understand now that every person I meet, every road I travel, carries a lesson. Every time I believed I was being buried, I was actually being planted. Every time I thought I was being pulled apart, I was being stretched. Every time I fell, it was so I could rise again—this time knowing how not to fall in the same way.  

I feel like I’ve been leveling up, and I imagine you have been too. I know that within me exists the best version of myself, and that’s what I’m striving toward. I’m reaching for the sun, the stars, the universe and beyond. But I can only do that because I am rooted—rooted in the dark times, in the moments when I had to dig deep to find my center, my balance, myself. And with a strong foundation, there is no limit to how far we can reach. 

I’m so excited to share my designs with you—pieces that hold meaning, that tell stories of where we’ve been, and that will journey with us wherever life takes us next.  

xx  
Christina