Pruning

Someone I know was saying they worked on a vineyard.  What I found particularly interesting was what they said about suckers.  Suckers was what would grow on the plant that looked exactly like the fruit bearing area s but produced no fruit at all.
It was important that they cut back the suckers because they would demand as much energy as the fruit bearing parts of fruit. It was important they were dealt with because if let go they would produce nothing while using the energy the plant used.  The upshot was that of let go they plant would produce less than if it was dealt with.
OI used to see the same on our roses.  They are real pretty.  Dad had a passion for roses and grew some really nice ones.  The flowers would be spectacular and last ages.
Trouble was, the roses would also produce suckers.  They were a part of the plant and looked right but although they looked the same they were not in that they were a drain only on the plant.  We would get rid of them. 
We actually had to not only cut off the suckers but to prune the roses.  In a sense it would seem counterproductive.  It looked harsh, but was no doubt for the best.  Cutting back an area that had proven to be fruitful does not seem to make sense.  It was one of those things that experience had shown us did.  If we wanted the roses to be even more spectacular the next season, we had to cut it back.
There was a whole art to pruning.  We needed to cut the plant in such a way as it would grow inwards.  Merril and I have a dwarf rose that has not been pruned as it should.  The flowers are good but because it has been allowed to grow wild it can get unsuspecting people on their way past it.
I guess I find that sort of thing interesting as I see it applicable to me.  I know there is stuff I hold onto that is just plain bad for me.  If I keep it my potential is limited by it.  Its gotta go.  There is other good stuff I know can be better.  With a prune.  That is no fun.  Yet I see that the results are better than they could have ever been.
I do not want to be like someone who speaks of their glory days log ago.  Like a rose that bloomed spectacularly back in 96.  I want to be like a rose that bloomed spectacularly in 22 and because it has been worked on is expected to bloom even more spectacularly in 23.
I know even this late in life I have unrealized potential.  To realize it I need to continually get rid of the suckers and go through the seeming indignity of pruning.  I do not know what I could be.  But I don’t want to never know.