Growing up in Colorado I was surrounded by the beauty of the mountains, the snow-frosted pine trees and the endless blue skies.

I moved to Seattle a month or two ago and found that I had never fully experienced fall. I found myself standing in the middle of my new campus and home in awe of the beauty before me. I had never seen so many colors and so many leaves falling at one time. It was like it was raining but it was calm and colorful and resulted in piles of leaves rather than puddles of water. I stood there speechless and realized something: There is beauty in the fall and there is beauty in the fall. No- I didn't repeat myself. Let me explain.

Yes, the fall season is beautiful but what does this tell us? What does this tell about the nature of our lives? It tells us that falling is OK and it shows us that change is beautiful. It shows us that there is beauty in when we fall.

Within our lives, we view falling as a sign of weakness, pain, discomfort, or even as a result of stupidity. We become embarrassed; embarrassed of what people may think as well as embarrassed and disappointed in ourselves. We work hard to remain within the boundaries of our comfort zones in order to escape these feelings. "A comfort zone is a beautiful place but nothing ever grows there."- Unknown

Nature encourages us. If we are in tune with our environment we can see that nature can teach us things about ourselves and the way in which we should aim to live our lives. In my case, standing beneath the trees with my boots buried in the depth of the leaves, I found that I was being shown that it's OK to fall. Falling is even something that can be recognized as beautiful. To me what is more beautiful than watching the leaves fall and silently rest themselves upon the ground?

Don't get me wrong; trees are beautiful before the fall season arrives. They are strong and fill out with leaves but all the leaves remain attached to the branches and therefore live their lives above our heads. If we look at this in comparison to our lives we can see that without change and without taking chances we remain attached to the branches and live in an isolated place away from genuine relationship. When we adventure, take chances, make goals and even make mistakes, we break away from our branches and fall; fall and meet others where they are at rather than distance ourselves. When we learn that life is about growth and relationship we see that falling puts us in a place of influence; a place where we can influence our own future as well as entangle our lives with connections and relationships. When we fall we not only realize the ways in which we can grow, but we also encourage others to do the same.

I encourage you to change your perspective on how you view yourself when you fall. You are not weak, underserving, dumb, or unintelligent. You are human. When you fall you know that you are taking chances and growing. Be proud of yourself when you fall because you pushed yourself out of your comfort zone and tried something new.

"A comfort zone is a beautiful place but nothing ever grows there." -Unknown

Fall is beautiful.

Falling is beautiful.