The leaf holds onto the branch with all of its power, not wanting to let go just yet. The wind picks up, starting slowly in the distance. It begins to blow harder while becoming louder. It blows against the leaf that holds on tight to the tree. The wind is too hard and the leaf cannot hold on any longer. It lets go and catches the wind. It falls slowly like a bird flying against the wind. The leaf dances in the wind, moving to the right, then the left, then up, then back down, slowly descending to the ground. Once its dance finishes, it lands softly on the ground, without a sound, among the other fallen leaves.

A sense of fall surrounds me. Fresh, crisp, air fills my lungs. The wind blows powerfully, but provides a sense of refreshment. I walk down the trail surrounded by forest, while looking for something that sparks my imagination. As I walk, the ground beneath me squishes, left wet from rain the day before. Fallen leaves cover parts of the trail, crunching when I step on them. As I continue walking, I notice a tree that has a pink band around it. My attention is quickly drawn to the bright color and I begin questioning why it is there. Is the tree meant to be cut down by humans disrupting the forest, or is it just a marker of some kind? I feel this would be a good place to find my inspiration, so I find a nearby tree to sit against.

As I sit against the tree, I take in my surroundings with a new perspective. There is a variety of nature all around me. Small plants cover much of the ground, some of them with large, green leaves, while others are just small sticks poking out of the ground. Some smaller, dead trees, never quite finished growing. They don’t have any branches coming off of them and are gray. Although they’re no longer living, they are still a part of the forest. Some trees are tall and have numerous branches emerging off of them, still in full growth.

It’s always said to go outside and look up. That once you look up, you’ll realize how small your problems are. So, I take the advice and look up to get another view of the forest. Although when I look up, my problems don’t go away, a different feeling fills me; a feeling that everything will be okay. The tree I’m leaning against has ridges all over it, creating a protective outside for itself. It looks as though it touches the sky, reaching up and up with no boundaries to stop it. The clouds move by fast. Some dense and thick while others are light and wispy, allowing some blue sky through them. When the rising sun pokes out from a cloud, it reflects off of the yellow leaves, brightening up the forest. The contrasting colors of sunlit green and sky blue make every detail noticeable. I look down at my feet. There are two leaves next to my left foot. One looks as though it has been there for a long time; it’s a dark brown color. The other one looks as though it recently fell; still an autumn yellow.

I find myself suddenly at peace. There’s no noise around me, except for nature itself. The leaves rustle in the wind sounding like a wave crashing, the birds call to each other at different pitches, and the occasional sound of a squirrel running through the forest ground. The forest lives at a different pace than everyday life. Everything takes its time, at a pace it pleases. Nothing hurries to get anywhere or finish anything, but instead believes things will all work out. It’s different than how most people live. We always rush to get to the next thing. We talk about tomorrow, without appreciating today. We are so concerned about the future, we forget about the now. We rush through our daily lives, missing many of the little miracles that happen everyday. We rush through our lives, only to all have the same end.

I sit back and think of how this tree took its time growing. There’s something about trees that have always fascinated me. Maybe it’s the way they grow any direction they want, or how they survive through hard times. Maybe it’s the way they grow to be so old, or the way they’re the foundation for the rest of the forest. Maybe it’s the way they grow leaves, knowing they will eventually fall off.

Or maybe, it’s something else entirely different; the way I might never truly understand them, yet still feel so at peace beside them.

I’m surrounded by so many different trees. These trees have grown tall over many years. They take their time like the rest of the forest. To us, they seem to grow in slow motion. They start as a tiny seed in the ground, eventually finding its way through the soil. With the sun and water they continue to grow. As they grow, they allow other things around them to grow as well. They let moss surround their trunks, birds sit on their branches, and give homes to creatures. They also grow an abundance of leaves, each one unique in its own way.

I can’t help but think of the pink band around the one tree’s trunk. If they mean to cut down the tree, they are disrupting its growing. This tree has grown where it should. It’s intended to be here, so why disrupt it? It’s as though the pink band resembles certain people. They don’t like what you’ve grown to be or where you are in your life, so they pick you out and try to tear you down.

I hear the wind pick up again and growing stronger each second. I watch a leaf hanging onto a branch blow in the wind, but eventually letting go. This leaf, just like all the other leaves, has the same fate: to fall off the tree onto the ground.

We all have the same fate.

Although it might sound morbid, it’s the truth. One day we will no longer be here and there’s no knowing what will happen. Although we all have the same fate, we all take different paths getting there, just like the leaves do their own dance. We might be influenced by something to move in a certain direction just as the wind influences the leaf to move in certain directions. We all experience something different along the way, but it ends the same nonetheless. We will all rest peacefully together at the end.

I picture what this forest will look like in ten years. The trees will be even taller than they are now, with bountiful branches and colorful leaves. New trees will just start to grow. The sun will shine while the birds sing and the squirrels run. There will be peace found in the forest and lessons to be learned among the trees. A leaf will blow in the wind, slowly making its descent to the ground, while dancing to its own song. When its dance is over, it will land softly on the ground, not making a sound. It will sit on the ground among the other fallen leaves.