Lessons from a Tiny Tree

A reflection on ambition, sacrifice, and the paths we’re forced to walk.

“Japanese tiny tree species.” I typed that into the search bar, hoping to finally find out what species of tree the Japanese used in their gardens.

It amazed me—the short stature of the tree.

But they didn’t look small; they looked like proper adult trees. Every proportion was perfect, like someone had taken a big tree and shrunk it down to miniature size so it could fit inside a house.

The search results finally loaded, and, needless to say, I was surprised. It wasn’t a species of tree at all. It could be any tree.

Take any seedling, grow it in a pot for a few hundred years, chop it up whenever it gets too big, tie it down with wires and cables to shape its growth, and water it obsessively. Voilà, your masterpiece

I can’t help but think of the irony in all of this. We admire bonsai trees, and the work bonsai artists put into them.

The time, the dedication, it all feels so meaningful. It gives the tree its value, so much value. But no one ever stops to ask: what does the tree think?

I don’t know if trees think but imagine being one.

You dream of growing tall, touching the sky, sinking your roots so deep into the earth that not even an 11-magnitude earthquake could pull you out.

But then, some featherless biped plucks you out of the ground, stuffs you into a tiny pot with barely a handful of soil, ties you up, forces you to grow according to his will, and bombards you with just enough water and fertilizer to keep you from the soft embrace of death that you so desperately crave.

It’s torture—nothing short of that.

To know you could have been so much more, to have dreams and aspirations only to see them plucked away.

To spend your life fulfilling someone else’s dream.

To be someone else’s pièce de résistance, but never your own

To walk a path drawn for you but never know the joy of wandering into the shrubs, making your own.

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Are your dreams your own or have they been pruned by someone else?

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Whose dreams are you working so hard to achieve? Whose success do you seek?

Well, that’s an easy question to ask, but a hard one to answer. Most people wouldn’t get it right on the first try, no matter how long they thought about it

Here’s why: since the day you were born, your mind has been shaped by the world around you. What you want is then often just a reflection of your upbringing, a lesson that you were taught without your consent.

The desires of countless people have tangled together in your mind, creating a Frankenstein-like version of ambition.

At birth, you were infinite potential—a blank slate, untouched by the weight of expectations or the noise of the world.

No rules, no desires, no paths laid out for you.

But life is a sculptor, and with every decision, every influence, it chipped away at the “you” that could have been.

Who you are today isn’t just you, it’s the sum of everything you’ve been through.

So now maybe that tiny tree doesn't have it so bad after all, I only feel bad for it because its chains are visible.

But in retrospect, we are just as tied down as it is.

“Freedom is the power to choose our own chains.” – Jean-Jacques Rousseau