I wish I had a garden, although I have a feeling that if I had one, I’d most likely be complaining about how much work it was to maintain.
We all do a lot of complaining when it comes to our responsibilities. We enjoy the fruits of our labor, but getting motivated to do the labor in the first place is the hard part. As a student, I know full well how tough it can be to get motivated over writing a 16 page paper about nothing that even remotely interests you. Oh yes, and you’ll be graded on that too.
In life, you don’t get grades from a professor – but you do get grades from yourself. Chances are, if you’re like most people, you want to have a sense of satisfaction when you look back on what you’ve accomplished. You reflect on every choice and action you make. What you ate for breakfast may be what takes up your entire focus while you drove to work. At work, you’ll make a decision on whether or not to fulfill your responsibilities. Sure, you get paid for it, but you make the decision nonetheless. After work, you come home and you decide how you’re going to spend your “free” time. Let’s face it – everything you do tends to some kind of garden a.k.a., a part of your life.
This past week, I’ve been doing a lot of tending. I’ve gotten a lot of things in order and found time to clean the whole apartment. I felt good about it. I was taking care of things and making my environment harmonious, or at least as harmonious as a little apartment with a cat that sheds like crazy and a photographer boyfriend in it can be!
Note: Brent, if you’re reading this, just know that you’re the basil :)
Off my rant and back to the point: take some time to do some tending to your life. Get things in order. Work on your relationships. Make time for yourself. All too often we get caught up in what we think are responsibilities. We neglect our feelings and desires. We second guess ourselves and compromise on things that don’t really matter.