Right now across Texas, something beautiful is happening: the bluebonnets are blooming!
Roadsides and fields are bursting into color, whole landscapes covered in the brilliant blue of bluebonnets.
It’s breathtaking. It feels sudden, almost magical.
But what you may not know about bluebonnets, is that they don’t bloom overnight. They’ve been quietly preparing for this moment for months.
And they needed very specific conditions to get here:
- Well-draining soil
- Full sun
- Time spent in the winter cold to break through their tough seed coating
- And a whole lot of patience
When they’re seedlings, they’re tiny, vulnerable, and easy to miss.
It’s only after all that unseen work that they explode into full, stunning bloom.
Just Like Bluebonnets, Your Growth Takes Time
It’s easy to believe you should feel completely confident treating oncology patients after just a few CEU courses.
It’s easy to wonder if you’re falling behind because you’re still figuring things out with complex patients.
It’s easy to get discouraged when growth feels slow or invisible.
But real growth—the kind that makes you a strong, trusted, expert OncoPT—never happens overnight.
You’re doing the invisible work right now:
- Laying down roots with every patient interaction
- Building strength through tough cases and hard days
- Learning how to thrive even when the conditions aren’t perfect
You’re not behind.
You’re not failing.
You’re growing—just like the bluebonnets.
Ready to Keep Growing? Here’s How You Can Continue Your OncoPT Journey:
Connect, collaborate, and grow with like-minded healthcare professionals passionate about cancer rehabilitation inside The Cancer Rehab Community.
Inside our free online community, you’ll find valuable resources, expert insights, and a supportive network to enhance your practice and make a greater impact.
Click here to join for free and take your oncology rehab expertise to the next level!
P.S. And if you haven’t already grabbed your seat, make sure to save big on your early bird ticket to The Cancer Rehab Community Conference from now until May 30!
Because when your environment supports your growth, blooming is inevitable.
And when you bloom?
You light up the world for the patients who need you most. 💙
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Watch this week’s episode of TheOncoPT Podcast on our YouTube channel!
Transcript
Elise – @TheOncoPT (00:19)
Hey, OncoPT and welcome back to this episode of the OncoPT podcast. Now, if you’re an oldie, buddy, goodie, welcome back, of course. If you are a new OncoPT or new to us here at the OncoPT podcast, welcome, my friend. I am so excited that you are here. Today is a great episode to join in because right now we are, I feel finally, firmly into spring. It is…
a new season, right? We are in the throes of seeing new blooms, new growth. There’s some pollen that comes along with that, but you know, we’re not going to focus on the pollen stuff. We’re going to focus on the new flowers. It’s so lovely, especially after coming out of winter, coming out of, you know, it kind of seems like a dark and sometimes depressing time to seeing this new life, all the green burst forth. But what we’re talking today,
But what we’re talking about today is actually not green. We’re actually talking about blue. Now, let me explain. In Texas, which is where I’m at right now, every spring, the state flower of Texas blooms like crazy all over the countryside, all like in the, you know, alongside the roads all throughout, especially like North Central Texas, which is where I spend most of my time. So the Texas blue bonnet is our state flower.
and it is blue and it’s kind of this little, it’s hard, like I’m gonna describe it and then I’ll actually share a picture so you know what I’m talking about. But a blue bonnet, Texas blue bonnet is this little flower and it grows in these like clumps or these clusters and it has a green stem and then it has these, this stalk of like blue and white flowers that are so.
vibrant. It’s this gorgeous, gorgeous blue. I don’t even have anything in my room that really just like describes or shows how blue it pops, but it’s one of the most glorious things about Texas Spring. And what’s really cool about bluebonnets is not just that they grow everywhere and they’re just like explosions of blue all along the roads and whatnot, but it seems sometimes like they pop up out of nowhere.
Like spring is on its way in Texas, you know, we have fluctuating temperatures, other stuff starts to grow. And then like a couple bluebonnets pop up. You know, I’ll see them here, I’ll see them there. It’s like, ⁓ bluebonnets.
And what’s interesting about bluebonnets too, and I mean, this makes sense when it comes to like growing seasons. Look, I’m not a horticulturist, so don’t come at me for this. But because I’m in North Texas, that’s actually where I live. A lot of the southern part of the state actually sees bluebonnets before we do. And so I actually hear about bluebonnets first. So usually while I’m seeing like one to two or a couple clusters, small clusters of bluebonnets up here in North Texas,
I’m hearing other people like, my gosh, the blue bonnets are out. Look at this. And I see these crazy pictures from central Texas, so south of us, and they get their blue bonnets first. And I’m like, man, are we gonna get those blue bonnets? And every year I think this, I’ve lived here in Texas for like 20 plus years at this point. I should know better. But every year I do this, I’m like, wonder, are we gonna have blue bonnets like that? Are we going to see those crazy big blue bonnets? Maybe we didn’t, maybe we didn’t get enough.
precipitation this winter, like maybe it’s been too dry, maybe it’s been too cold, maybe it’s been too wet, all the things, right? I just don’t know if this is happening. And then all of a sudden, it seems like overnight, North Texas explodes in bluebonnets everywhere. They’re just covered, bluebonnets everywhere, everywhere you look, it’s amazing. And it’s the coolest thing.
to then reflect back on and be like, ⁓ they were there the whole time. It wasn’t their time. They just weren’t ready yet. Like, yes, Central Texas blue bonnets, they were growing already. It wasn’t our time yet. It wasn’t our time to see those blue bonnets. And again, as a part of all of this, the reason why we have this episode is that these blue bonnets this year are making me kind of like sit back and reflect on things a little more. And I did a deep dive.
maybe a little bit of a too much of a deep dive into bluebonnet growing conditions. And don’t worry, again, this is not a herbology lesson. I’m not going to go that far. But it was interesting to parallel what it takes for bluebonnets to grow the way they do and to just explode all over the Texas countryside in the spring. Like what it takes to actually get there. So bear with me. When you look at American Meadows, which is a like gardening website, bluebonnets are actually
surprisingly picky flowers. Now, what I mean by this is that they have very specific growing conditions that they require. So they have to be in well draining soil. If it’s too wet, if that moisture sits, not bluebonnets, they don’t jive with that. They need full sun. And in Texas, that is quite easy and quite intense. you know, again, if we’re in the full sun, great, that’s fine, except for sometimes that sun can be very, very intense.
Bluebonnets don’t like being moved around. They need to stay in the same place. ⁓ They don’t get transported very well, which I can’t appreciate. And their seeds, when they’re planted, they’re very, very tough. And they need the cold of winter. So once they are planted in the ground, they need the cold of winter to actually break down that outer casing of
the seed so that that blue bonnet can eventually bloom forth in the spring. And again, when they do, there’s no words. I feel like that truly do a Texas spring field of blue bonnets justice. Like literally growing up, we used to have blue bonnet parties, which I know sounds so strange. But my now brother-in-law’s parents would actually, they had like some farmland.
they would invite everybody over because they had just rolling fields of blue bonnets and paint brushes that we could just be like, it’s so beautiful. And then we’d usually have like snacks and drinks and whatever. So again, it’s really easy to, think, look at the Texas blue bonnet. And when this all happens to think, my gosh, overnight, they just popped up this so amazing, like an overnight success. Okay. Do you see where I’m going with this? But these blue bonnet fields, these
rolling fields of blue are the product or the result of really, really quiet prep with some really kind of harsh conditions to get to this point. And the parallel between this and OncopT I think speaks for itself.
A lot of times you might feel like I should just know this information already. Or maybe even why don’t I know this information already? Why am I not automatically a great OncoPT You maybe take some courses, you see some patients, maybe you’re even in the middle of preparing for your specialty certification exam, right? Wherever you are on your path to become the best OncoPT you can be, we commonly get stuck in these ruts.
of wondering why is this still hard? Why is this not easy for me? Why am I still struggling with X, Y, Z, right? But the truth is becoming a confident, competent OncoPT and always becoming the best version of OncoPT you can be. It’s not instant. I wish it was. It’d be great. We wouldn’t need this podcast if it was.
But like bluebonnets, our growth as OncoPTs takes time. It takes effort. It takes going through the hard stuff. And not just that, sometimes it also takes going through the hard stuff day after day and sometimes alone and in the quiet. Before we’re then able to get to this point where we bloom.
As an OncoPT, you need the right conditions to thrive. Maybe you don’t need the well draining soil and full sun that bluebonnets need, but you need the right conditions, right? You need a working environment in which you’re able to show up to be your best version of yourself as often as possible to treat your patients well, right? And to grow in that way so that you can apply what you’ve been learning so you can practice and get better at those skills that you’re curating, right?
Maybe you don’t need sunlight, although I would disagree. think all of us need sunlight. We know the benefits of vitamin D, etc etc But you need that glow, that warmth of inspiration, of encouragement, of reminders of your purpose and why you got into this field in the first place, why you continue to stay in this field when sometimes it is very hard, it’s very challenging.
Sometimes it’s not all sunshine and rainbows, right? Sometimes it is very cold and rainy like Texas winters a lot of times. You need that metaphorical sunlight of pouring into you to bring out your best, right? It doesn’t just happen. need both. Again, going back to my blue bonnet analogy here, blue bonnets need both the cold, rainy, wintery conditions that we have here in Texas.
to break down that hard coating so that they can eventually bloom, but they also need that sunlight to bloom. We cannot have bluebonnets and the glorious bluebonnet fields without one or, like we have to have both. We can’t have one or the other. And again, we do need those hard seasons, not because it’s character building, like I get that to an extent, but we need that winter.
We need the opportunity to learn. We need those challenging learning curves that we oftentimes experience at OncoPT. We need those challenges that are going to break down our outer casing and prepare us for what’s next. Maybe that is, for example, I feel like when I was early on in my practice, just going through those repetitions of like, is really, really hard work. I don’t want to say just getting through it. I don’t totally love that language, but
the ongoing repetition of like, this is hard work. I’m working really hard on this. ⁓ One lesson in particular that I learned, and I’m continuing to learn, like I haven’t perfected this, but early on in my career, I had a lot of patients in a very short period of time who all had terminal cancer. Like we knew that we had a timeline that we were working with. And again, I’ve shared this before on the podcast. It’s one of my favorite lessons and one that I continue to reflect on.
I was actually complaining to a colleague of mine who is a PTA and oncology massage therapist in the institution I was at. And I was like, man, I’m just, I like, it’s super heavy. I’m dealing with a lot of patients who are, you know, like really, really sick. And it’s, it’s kind of a bummer, which it is, but what this person said, her name was Joy, coincidentally, which is such a fitting name. says, and what a privilege it is that they are choosing to spend this time with you.
And that was such a game changer for me. But it took going through that quote winter of like, I’m working with patients who are really sick, who are experiencing a lot of challenges to be able to practice working with patients who are in the throes of it, who are really sick and who are dealing with a lot of frankly, just stuff that makes life really, really hard to learn how to show up for them.
to learn how to show up as Adam Matichak says, good friend of the podcast, you’ve heard him before, as Dr. Adam Matichak says about showing up for the human in front of you as a fellow human. It’s only through that winter of hardship like that. And again, this is just my lesson that I’ve been reflecting on lately when it comes to the winter. Your winter is probably different. The winter you might have been going through up to this point, or maybe you are in the thick of it right now, my friend, your lesson is probably different and that’s okay.
But we need that winter, that quote, winter experience of the hard, of the challenge, of the learning curves, of the lessons to eventually get to the point where we can bloom. And your blooming is coming, my friend. Again, maybe you are in the thick of that winter right now. You may not feel like you are ever gonna get on the other side. Sometimes winter is like that. It’s like, my God, will this ever end?
And I say this knowing full well Texas winters are not that bad, I mean, you know, winter is winter. Am I right? And so even if you don’t feel like your blooming is coming, even if you feel like it’s taking longer than you thought, like I thought I would be further along by now. I say this all the time and I get called out lovingly by my therapist all the time for this. Rightly so. Thank you therapist for that. But I promise it is not too late and you’re not behind.
You are exactly where you need to be and you might be growing underneath the soil right now and your bloom is just on the other side of whatever this winter is for you. And so I would really encourage you here. Do not get discouraged, my friend.
If you feel like you are in that winter and you are cold, it is dark and you are alone and you are just feeling kind of stuck and like you are never going to get to that springtime bloom that we’ve been talking about, I would really encourage you to connect intentionally with others in our community. Because as much as we’ve talked about, you know, again, blue bonnets,
as they’re growing when they’re in their shell during the winter time, they probably feel very alone. I don’t think bluebonnets are necessarily sentient, but if they were, think they would perceive that they’re very alone. But when bluebonnets finally bloom in the springtime, they don’t grow like it’s not a one-off.
Most of the time it’s fields. There’s got to be thousands if not millions of these blue bonnet plants and flowers just blooming all over the place. It’s such an indescribable experience. And again, they probably look very isolated in the soil as they’re growing, but as they burst through that soil and they bloom, there’s
Clusters, clusters isn’t even the right word. Like I don’t know the cluster equivalent of thousands to millions, crowds, ⁓ know, legions of these bluebonnets everywhere. They’re not alone. Maybe they felt alone in that winter, but there were bluebonnets growing alongside of them. And it’s much easier to see that when you’re in the springtime. And again, you’re out of the winter, you’re in bloom, and you can look out and see all of these fellow bluebonnets, right?
This is why we need community. This is why we need community to help us see that we’re actually not totally alone in the winter time. It sure feels like that sometimes, doesn’t it? It can sure seem that way, but there are others out there who are going through this challenging time alongside you. And you may not even know it. You may not even see them because sometimes OncoPT can be a little isolating. You know, I have been…
working a lot of times by myself in my career, in my practice. And it has felt sometimes isolating, but that’s also why I’ve created this community, why I’ve created this community with other OncoPTs so that I can turn to them for the support. And that’s what I really would encourage you to do in this experience as well, especially if you are in that wintertime of feeling alone and feeling like, man, I am just not breaking through whatever it is, barrier.
I just cannot figure out how to get to this next phase of my career, of my professional practice, whatever that is. And that’s why Kelly and I pour so much into the cancer rehab community. This is Dr. Kelly Sturm. You’ve heard about her many, many times on the OncoPT podcast, but we’re the co-founders of the cancer rehab community, which is our online space that we have created to connect cancer rehab professionals globally. Because we remember
how hard it felt to be alone and to be isolated and not really feel like I knew what the heck was going on or what I was going to do with this patient or how I was even going to get through another week of just not knowing what the heck I was doing. And when we bring on OncoPTs together in this community, this is what changes everything that environment where we can connect with each other, where we can feel not so alone.
Saw her, I totally lost my train of thought here, so we’re gonna cut this part out.
And this is exactly why Dr. Kelly Sturm and I have come together to create the cancer rehab community. You’ve probably heard about this on the podcast before. This is our free online community of OncoPTs and OncoOTs and other cancer rehab professionals globally, where we can come together and we can connect and we can learn from each other and we can get advice. We can receive support and motivation.
that we need to oftentimes get through the metaphorical winters that we’re talking about. So we can get to the other side and see spring and see all of the blooms and the bluebonnets that are happening everywhere. Because we remember what it feels like to be so alone.
Kelly’s been practicing, I think, for about 10 years now. I’m coming up on my seventh year of practice. That sounds right, which is crazy to think about. Sometimes I don’t think that I’ve been practicing this long. This is not a you figure it out once and then you’re good to go for the rest of your life. Like blue bonnets, there is a seasonality to all of this. There are going to be times where you are in spring and you are on top of the world. You’re like, I have this figured out. Down pat.
I’m good. And then there are going to be more winters ahead. Maybe not the same winter. Maybe it’s a different winter where you were like, man, this, this kind of sucks. I’m not really sure what I’m doing. I’m not really sure what I’m supposed to be doing. I need help and I don’t know where to get that help. I’m feeling really isolated. I’m feeling really alone.
I don’t want that for you, friend. I want you to know that there is a community of other cancer rehab professionals who are just as passionate about this patient population as what you are and want just as badly for your community to get the very important cancer rehab services that you provide. Want that just as badly as you do. And they want that success for you. They want your patients to get better because we believe that when your patients get better,
all of our patients get better. We believe in this overflow effect. And so I would really encourage you, if you are not already part of the cancer rehab community, you can join for free today at the OncoPT.com/community. And you can create your profile, you can join. We are in there daily talking about stuff. There are always thriving conversations. People are talking about their patients and you’re like challenging patient situations and scenarios all the time getting that help.
I remember what it’s like to be in that winter, to be alone, and it sucks.
And now that I have this community, I will never go back to being alone again. And I hope that you find that. I know that you will find that in the cancer rehab community. So to kind of sum up what we’ve been talking about today, I will share on social media and I’ll also share in the blog post for this specific episode. I will share a picture of just what a field of bluebonnets looks like in spring here in Texas. It is…
beyond words. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever experienced anywhere else. And it is such a good metaphor for OncoPT and the seasonal journey that you will continue to be on throughout your career. And what I will continue to, like what we all continue to be on as we continue to learn and grow and better show up for our patients. And I hope that this spring you pause and you reflect a little bit on
the growth that you have experienced over the last even just year, right? Where did you start? Where are you now? Where are you going? And what have you learned along the way that is helping you show up every day to be the best version of OncoPT that you can be? Because I know that you can be. I know that about you. If you’re here today, that means that you are invested in showing up better for your oncology patients each and every day.
and making that conscious effort to do so. I believe in you, So I would encourage you, check out pictures of Texas Blue Bonnets. That’s like your one half. This is your fun action step for this podcast episode is I want you to look at the pictures that I’ve shared either on social media or on this blog post of Texas Blue Bonnets because I hope it really drives the visual point home that I’m trying to make. But then your real action step.
is if you haven’t already, I want you to join the cancer rehab community. You can join for free today at the OncoPT.com/community and introduce yourself, right? Let’s get to know each other. Let’s get to know this community and let’s help to make cancer rehab more accessible for everybody in our communities, yours included, my friend. Thank you so, so much for listening to this episode today. Thank you for listening to my love.
and my rambling about Texas Bluebonnets, I never thought I would be so passionate about flowers until I was researching for this episode and I’m even more sold on Bluebonnets than I was prior to all of this. So thank you so much for your time today. I really, really appreciate it. And remember, you are exactly the physical therapist that your patients with cancer need. So let’s get to work.