Your mind is like a garden, when it is full of weeds, your positive thoughts and dreams suffocate and won’t grow to their full potential. If something is out of balance in a garden, nothing productive will grow. This is how I felt with post-natal anxiety. I saw the weeds around me growing, thriving on negative thoughts, crushing my spirit and stealing away the positive things in life. It seemed at the start like my garden had only a few weeds and they were under control but if I didn’t pull them out, correct the negativity, they would take over.
After I was pregnant with my 2nd daughter, I let my garden go. I let it become a weed patch as I didn’t have energy after the sleepless nights and draining days of being pregnant. And then later it became even harder, caring for a baby and a toddler, managing the house as well as having Fibromyalgia with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I saw the sunshine and flowers in my friend’s garden, and I’m sure they had some weeds growing too but it wasn’t obvious to me. I was struggling to juggle everything, battling anxiety and I felt alone. I was told I needed help, but I was in denial, the weeds were fine, I’d get to them one day.
4 years later, I weeded out my garden. I started to take control back in my life, my garden and release control at the same time. This year, I am not just weeding and trying to keep on top of my garden. I am planning, preparing the foundation and growing my garden to be large and productive; to feed my family, my soul and to share what I’ve learnt with others. This is how DirtMum began, in an overgrown, neglected and out of balance weed patch. I want to make it my business to help other people find balance in growing their own abundant food forest.
Garden therapy may be a term that some people may joke about, but we all need it in our lives. Like my Granny, Mama and Mum before me, I seek comfort in the garden, thrive on the peace while watering and am joyful to see the fruits of my labour. Hopefully garden therapy will be a normal way of life for my daughters. Follow me down the garden path. Happy digging!
I want to share some of the lessons I have learnt. Click here for my top 5 tips to start garden therapy and change your life.
- Just do something outside every day.
Break that cycle of being inside, too hard to go out and just step outside. It might be for just 5 minutes checking the compost (or starting a compost bin), watering the pots or garden beds, sowing some seeds, preparing an entire garden bed, reading a garden book in the sunshine, drawing a plan while your children are colouring in, draw a plan with your children, or it could just be a sanity break to pull some weeds. - Get inspired and get connected!
Follow gardening pages, borrow some magazines from the library, swap books with friends and discuss them, join a garden club, volunteer at a school garden, watch some DIY YouTube videos. Learn from the bloopers, mistakes that others make, none of us are perfect. You can do this, in your own time, your way. - Try something new!
Go out of your comfort zone, experiment with different plants, senses and uses, gardening styles and methods, explore new flavours and colours. Brighten up garden, your life, your soul! - Planning!
Plan for the future and reflect on the past. Observe your surroundings, your garden friends. Write everything down, make a schedule and tasks for you to be accountable. Like setting a reminder to harvest at 12 weeks not 8 or 16, when the time is right. Everything and everyone has their own season. - Be still.
Embrace the moment, it may just be 2 minutes before the children realise you are outside. Breathe in the sunshine and fresh air. Pause. Breathe out and let go. Enjoy the season you are in, as it will change before you know it.
Now is the time to sow some seeds! To get your started on your path to garden therapy, the first 5 people to like my new blog and share this post, will receive some bright and beautiful sunflowers seeds to brighten up their garden.
One Response
Congratulations Dear Dirt Mum! Have enjoyed watching your Facebook journey the last few years as you’ve shared your hopes and dreams. You experimented, expanded your knowledge, rolled your sleeves up, and dug deep. You generously scattered your ideas like seeds. You trusted the process and reserved judgement about how things should be. You respected that different things germinate when they are meant to, not necessarily when you wanted them to. You thoughtfully tendered relationships as well as plants, and watched them grow in ways that not only allowed others to connect with you, but to grow with you. As you set goals and challenged yourself, your transparency and authentic journey was a model for others. You were not afraid to fail for you understood that too is part of the process. You paid it forward time and again, and asked nothing in return. In doing so you gave others encouragement to start their own learning journey. You dared to be brave, and gave voice to your vision, which was like sunshine on the souls of others. Your perspiration fed your inspiration. You are an amazing individual, mother, gardener, nurturer, leader, teacher, and role model. You deserve to flourish, and just like your garden, be rewarded with the fruits of your labour and love, as you pursue your passion, not just of gardening, but living your best life to the fullest. You know “the only difference between a weed and a flower is an opinion.” As wonderful as the pathway to here has been rewarding, the best is yet to be.