My back is sore and my hands are cramping. Dust and grass clippings in my hair, dirt embedded under my finger nails, and pollen nestling deep into my lungs. I’ve been out here for hours, and every time I try to wrap it up, I see just ONE MORE weed that I need to pull. I stand up to take a breath and look back at my work to revel in my accomplishment, only to feel COMPLETELY deflated.
How is it possible the weeds have TRIPLED since I started??? I might as well have spent the last 3 hours on the couch!!!
Yard work and gardening are thankless jobs. You spend hours, HOURS, your entire weekend, pushing, pulling, yanking, tending, composting, watering, and often times when you are through….it looks as if you’ve done NOTHING.
NOT.
A.
THING.
The weeds multiply by the milli second (can we spray them with COVID ??? ) The pinecones are relentless, and grass burrs positiviely VISCOUS. Even the rose bushes assault me as I tend to them.
“I’m trying to HELP you, why are you stabbing me??!?!”
*SIGH* Why bother?? What’s the point?
But then I turn around and notice….what I had not yet noticed…
My “wildflower” herb garden. Completely contrary to the rest of my life, there is little structure here, everything is free to roam and grow at its own discretion. The sage is positively SCREAMING purple, the last surving branch of my lavender bush is powering through and peaking purple as well. And the Parsley, oh the parsley! Seedlings must have traveled with the breeze over the winter and she overfloweth unabashadley with pride, my favorite herb!!! Various other “wild child” varieties are staking their claim as well.
Over the pask weeks I have spent a good portion of time in this space, weeding out varieties that I felt were not a good fit. And apparently the residents are appreciative, and have finally been able to express their gratitude.
So there is a point, after all. And the point is, instant gratification is NOT a good fit for your garden of life. Sometimes there is pain, a LOT of pain, and struggle, and grief. You will feel exhausted and deflated. And there is no immediate reward for enduring this anguish. Sometimes it takes week, months, YEARS for the universe to reciprocate its gratitude.
But when it does, you won’t be able to miss it. It will burst unabashedly with joy, color and excitement.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.
DO.
NOT.
GIVE.
UP.
Keep chipping away, even if all you have a is a tiny little rock hammer 😉
You are WORTH the struggle.
And the universe believes so too.
Until next time my loves….
NEGATIVE SPACE 