Growing Around the Fence

I came across this tree the other day, and it stopped me in my tracks.

Not because it was particularly beautiful. Not because it was particularly old. But because somewhere along the way, this tree decided that a chain-link fence was not going to be the end of its story.

It just kept growing.

The fence stayed exactly where it was—steel, rigid, unmoving. The tree, meanwhile, got creative. It twisted. It bent. It adapted. It found a way to keep reaching for the sky without asking permission from the obstacle in front of it.

As artists, I think we spend a lot of time staring at our own fences.

Sometimes it’s a new technology we don’t understand. Sometimes it’s an industry that’s changing faster than we’d like. Sometimes it’s fear, self-doubt, bills, responsibilities, or the little voice in our head that says, “Maybe just stick with what you know.”

But creativity has never really been about having a clear path. It’s about finding a path.

What makes this tree even more fascinating is that it didn’t just survive the fence. It grew so much that someone eventually had to cut it back on both ends.

Think about that.

The obstacle didn’t stop its growth. The tree grew beyond the obstacle.

There is something wonderfully artistic about that.

Because if you’ve been creating long enough, you know that growth isn’t just about adding things to your toolbox. Sometimes growth means outgrowing things—a style you’ve relied on, a process that once felt comfortable, or a way of thinking that got you this far but won’t get you where you’re going next.

Every artist eventually sheds a few branches.

The funny thing is, when those branches get cut away, it can feel like loss. But maybe it’s actually evidence of growth. After all, nobody prunes a tree because it stayed small.

Looking at this tree, I don’t see something trapped. I see a stubborn little dreamer that refused to let circumstances decide its shape.

Its scars tell a story. Its bends tell a story. Even the cuts tell a story.

And maybe that’s the lesson.

The goal isn’t to avoid the fences. The goal isn’t even to stay straight. The goal is to keep growing. Keep experimenting. Keep trying the weird idea. Keep learning the new tool. Keep making the thing that scares you a little.

Because if you’re lucky, you’ll wake up one day and realize you’ve grown so much that the very thing that once seemed like a limitation has become just another chapter in your story.

Or, in this tree’s case, a piece of scenery.