What Gardening Has Taught Me
/My husband and I started on our first gardening adventure two years ago. It has been an interesting process with several flops, lots of reading, and a few moments of cursing at bugs for eating our plants. It also has taught me three very valuable lessons:
Everything Takes Time
You Need The Right Conditions To Grow
Some Things Are Out of Your Control
Everything Takes Time
Yesterday, I was out picking lettuce and felt a twinge of pride. I had worked hard to prepare the soil, plant the seeds, water the garden religiously, and waited many weeks for the opportunity to begin picking these beautiful lettuces.
Then it dawned on me, I am not used to the feeling of having to wait. Our society is set up for instant gratification. People become mad if they don’t get what they want or see results instantly.
When I talk with clients one hard truth is how long it will take them to reach their goals. People want to lose 20 pounds in one month, but the journey of health and weight loss spans over months and even years.
It took me several years to develop the relationship I have with food and my body. Nothing happens overnight, BUT just like a garden the result is worth all of the time and effort.
2. You Need The Right Conditions To Grow
Our first year we bought fertilizer to prepare the soil and figured this would be enough to make a flourishing garden. Living on the Eastern Shore you are combating some dense sandy soil, which most crops aren’t able to thrive in.
We figured the fertilizer would be enough...boy were we wrong. It has taken two years of mixing in compost religiously to develop a healthy nutrient profile in which our plants even have a chance.
Just like plants, our bodies need the right conditions to flourish. Your body needs quality sleep and a low stress environment, simply giving it healthy meals and moving regularly isn’t enough to thrive. If your stress management and sleep are out of whack you will never have the right environment for lasting health or weight loss.
3. Some Things Are Out of Your Control
By year two, my husband and I thought we had figured out a few tricks and were ready to have the perfect garden. Then a rainy spring happened, and then it continued, and it still continues. Some plants are thriving and some plants are water logged.
Life is much like the weather, we can plan for it but it’s out of our control. Becoming frustrated that some of my plants didn’t grow is pointless, I did everything I could and it just didn’t happen.
This applies to more areas of life than I can count and I know for a fact it is the topic of several helpful books (shameless plug: Loving What Is by Byron Katie is a game changer).
When it comes to your health and schedule some things are out of your control and it is more beneficial to roll with the punches and try to find the positive side of things than to throw the baby out with the bath water.
For all my moms out there... when the dishwasher breaks, your kids come home from college, and a new project comes up at work in the same week IT IS NOT YOUR JOB TO BE WONDER WOMAN. You don’t need to have the perfect meal every day and complete all of your planned workouts. It’s more important that you have your sanity and sometimes that means ordering a pizza instead of cooking for an hour.
In short, gardening has been a gentle reminder that we need to be more kind and patient with ourselves. There is no such thing as perfect and ABSOLUTELY NOTHING happens overnight.