Pivot Wellness

What Ferns Can Teach Us About the “In-Between”

If you spend time wandering through the woods or walking the edges where old fields meet forest, you’ll often find ferns growing in those soft in-between places—the threshold spaces where one landscape slowly becomes another, or where the land has been disturbed and is quietly finding its way back to balance.

Ecologists call these areas ecotones, and ferns are beautifully adapted to them. They thrive in transition: not quite full sun, not quite deep shade; not untouched forest, not fully open field. They make their home in the middle spaces.

Many fern species are also early-successional plants, meaning they can be some of the first species to return after the ground has shifted, been cleared, or been disrupted. They stabilize the soil, hold moisture, and create conditions that allow the next stage of growth to take shape.

There’s something in this “growth through disruption” that feels very human. Most of us go through seasons where we’re not who we were, but not yet who we’re becoming. The in-between can feel uncertain, slow, or uncomfortable—but it’s also in this quiet shift that the rebuilding begins.

Ferns remind us that:

• Transitional spaces can still be productive spaces.
• Growth doesn’t need to be dramatic; it can unfurl slowly.
• Change often starts with small roots taking hold beneath the surface.
• The in-between is its own ecosystem—one where you can choose what takes root next.

So if you find yourself in a season of change, consider the ferns along the forest edge—steady, soft, beautiful, and resilient—growing not despite transition, but because of it. Sometimes a pivot doesn’t require a full U-turn; it begins with a gentle uncurling toward a new idea.

Sources/References

Katahdin Woods and Waters: https://www.nps.gov/kaww/learn/nature/ferns.htm

Cambridge University Press: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/fern-ecology/ferns-disturbance-and-succession/90D28F67979660548DBA6BAE74FD7B53