finding and keeping your sanity in the garden

HiDelight

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I have a lot of crazy in me on a good day ..but the past two years ..I think it is fair to say I have had more than my share of grief and sadness and my body and mind sometimes feels like it is falling apart!...I am very sure (and would like to hope) that I am not the only one on this board who thrives mentally and physically from gardening ..finds healing ...sanity and a relief from the pain of living in this crazy world by working yourself into a blissful stuper in the garden ... ..this week I am crumbling ..the walls seem to be falling in around me ...and while I am trying very hard to remain cheerful and happy on the outside ..I have to people count on me to be good to them and help with thier needs ....inside I am a mess! ...so I have whined and complained to anyone who will listen ....I was reminded by a dear friend this morning that the probable reason I am falling apart this week is because I have not been able to really get to my personal "garden therapy" time this week ... nor will I next week (two weeks no garden work time!) ..this has me anxious and stressed ..it is like missing a therapy appt if I saw a therapist! I am working extra hours doing flu clinics ...and while I appear to function ok in real life I will share my secret with you ..my guts are trashed right now! I feel fragile ..tears are behind my eyes at all times and I want to snap and scream at people just because! ... Please know that I am not starting this thread for selfish reasons I am not so self involved that I do not realize most folks have struggles of one kind of another ..it is just that I seriously can not imagine a better therapy than gardening! OMG it is art science love and romance ..physically challenging ...mentally challenging ..asthetically appealing..and the food that comes into your home is just so healthful! ...just a very therapeutic activity for everyone...

With the winter right ahead of us and I think that advance planning is in order for those of us who suffer from SAD or just lack of momentum ...or to secure your santy if anything comes up you feel you can not handle with out a safe outlet!

if you would like to join in and talk about how gardening has helped you thrive during tough times in the past ..right now ..or how you plan to use it for the future ...please do ...what are your plans to keep yourself motivated and healthy mentally and physically by gardening? ..please do discuss ..I know I appreciate and learn from others ...

my biggest plan is to keep fresh food coming all winter ..I am going to set up a small hydroponic practice system and try something simple like lettuce...I have the stuff to make my cold frames and am working on insulating my raised beds a bit...with cast off Styrofoam coolers from work ...I am going to start a bunch of house plants from the ones I have and give them as gifts during the holidays in decorative pots that I am going to try to make ...

this week and my friend has convinced me that I need gardening ..and she is right! if I did not garden I would not be functioning much at all right now ...I do have joys in my life please do not get me wrong... but the garden helps me with that joy ..it is like having my own inner psychotherapist who is constantly holding me accountable for my activities ..it is kind of like having a dog as well ..who also I consider a key element in my struggle for sanity ...you can not sit and do nothing with those big eyes looking at you begging you to "come play with me" ...the garden looks at me and says .."now wouldn't that beautiful plant you wanted look good right here? " and yes if I plant it ..it does look good and I am happy tired and sane :) Gardening forces you to not only live in the moment ..something we sometimes forget is very important ..but it helps assure a lovely plan for the future ..with rewards of providing food and flowers for your life ...


for the "right now" my short term plan is going to be a trip to the nursery on Sunday I just heard they have some exciting strains of garlic and a few winter bloomping plants

have a great day and thanks for being here
 

chills

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HiDelight can i just say that i look forward to reading your posts, you either make me think or make me smile or just plain laugh out loud .. im sorry to hear your not getting your garden therapy time, we all need that 'quite' time for our mind and bodies ..
i wouldnt think of you as selfish for starting this post, i think that you are missing a big part of your relief and that most if not all of us share in that, we would share in your pain as well ..
i totally admire that you can keep your cool and composure, i dont .. i know only a little about SAD, here in Sacramento, weather wise were not so gloomy, but it can feel as though winter is taking forever to complete! i so appreciate and admire that you know these things about yourself and you are trying to attack them ..
have fun wondering around the nursery, my husband and i had a great time at peaceful valley farms the other day (and i would like to have a chat with santa!!)
i have no answers for you, but i do enjoy and look forward to your posts and your time you spend here ...
thank you
 

Greensage45

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Hi Hi!,

I am so there with you on this, but I have to say that your ambitions are far greater than mine; I guess I am at that point where there are so few 'projects' and now it is more a time to let it all grow and become abundant.

I find my hardest work in the garden is during the winter months. I too have spent a lifetime suffering from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). It was especially hard on me when I lived in Dallas, TX, because the winters are so bitterly filled with cloudy wet and cold days. As the years passed I began using Light therapy and sitting long hours in the sun (when it was out) in a window.

I am so aware of my need for Sunlight that I rarely allow myself to miss any. However, back to you for now; I think the garden is giving you 'energy' or 'love' or 'goodness' or 'healing', what ever the explanation. Whereas people (such as your job) take. Society takes and now even our trusted (HA) Government takes. It is all so take take take in our world. Yet when we step in the garden a wondrous thing begins to happen, the garden gives....it gives to us in food, in pleasure to the eyes, in the very essence of Life-giving forces it gives. We give to the earthen dirt and that gives to our lovely gardens and in return we are rewarded with a pure force of Love. It is all so very simple.

I recently began to think to myself, "who are the meek?", you know the saying: 'And the meek shall inherit the Earth'. Who are the 'meek'? Obviously, the meek are not the weak or the fragile, they are not the innocent either; for in innocence there is nothing to be meek about. I think I am beginning to grasp it now.

The 'meek' are those that can create beauty in the ugliest of times. They do not deny the anger, the frustrations, nor do they blind themselves from the 'takers'. Instead the 'meek' create those places that 'give', those spaces that provide, and they make room for abundance. They are in fact the Garden! You my dear are the meek! Your ability to give and give and then give again is quite clear.

I think that your Blessings will begin by accepting yourself as a 'giver' of Life and finding those spaces to recharge. Your sanctuary, your Garden!

So, I think you are exactly where you need to be, you are in a place now in your life where you are beginning to see the importance of you! Your garden wants you to thrive and to live peacefully and happily because it knows who you are. The meek, the giver, the force of the Universe....of our Higher Spirit.

I am touched by your post, and I am so happy to know that you are there tending your garden, it gives me Hope!

Thank you for sharing (giving) to us, I do hope that in some small way I have been able to give back to you too!

Blessings,

Ron

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HiDelight

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Omg I have no words ..seriously ...thank you!

please can we leave this here and if anyone wants to pop in and burst out what they are feeling and how the garden helps somehow then they can ..just for release between kindreds I think ...no obligations just say what you want ..

angry ..happy

I derive such amazing advice from others experiences on how to safely channel the crazy


I read these replies three times and I was tearful I swear


you guys I love reading your posts as well ..there are amazing writers on this board and something about the garden brings such a brilliant gathering of the species dont you think?

please accept my gratitude ..wow ...now vent away!!!! this is the patch of our garden for that maybe?
 

Ridgerunner

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We all have to cope as we can. As you mentioned, we all have stress in our lives that we have to learn how to deal with. I'm not self-perceptive enough to know how much gardening specifically helps. I know it is a big part. I do know that since I retired and am doing a lot more of what I want to do instead of what I feel like I had to do to earn a living for me and my family, pay for college to give my kids a decent start in life, and get in financial shape so I could retire, my health has improved and those headaches have gone away. I still have stress, but it is stress mostly within my control. It is seldom caused by other people. And when I don't have to work with other people that seem to enjoy causing stress, it is much easier to walk away from them.

Attitude can help too. I have been locked out of my garden for over two weeks due to constant rain. It is just too wet to get in there and do anything other than find cutworms, or do other things that have to be done, like gather tomatoes. I could be upset that the weeds are growing wild and I can't do anything about it yet. Or I can see that I got a tremendous germination rate on my fall garden planting and the stuff is growing well. Imagine, no watering for a late summer planting! And my green beans have made a fantastic recovery! So I am frustrated yet pleased. Such can be life.

We all have to find ways to cope as we can. When I worked in a remote camp in Nigeria, 4 degrees off the equator, I would go around a loop road that was 2.2 miles around at lunch time. I was either the fastest walker or slowest jogger there. (There is a saying about only mad dogs and Englishmen that described me and several others there. I'm not English so I guess I know what that made me.) But if I had meetings, had to travel, or it was storming (lightning) to where I could not go around that loop, I could tell it physically and mentally. I needed to blow off that stress.

You can grin and bear it for only so long. You have to practice your stress relief therapy after a while. Best of luck.
 

HiDelight

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oh Ridge you are so right on this one...

"You can grin and bear it for only so long. You have to practice your stress relief therapy after a while."

I am off to work

I just thought we needed a little something to have here where we can come scream yell, stomp slugs, scream at spiders for getting caught up in our hair ...and even sing "Kum Ba Ya" if we needed to

use this thread as you may and maybe I am a little selfish and wanted a place to do this myself ..but really I totally learn from you all ..what a great group of folks hang out here


digging dirt ...is a wonderful antidepressant anti psychotic ..and traquilizer

I have a story to tell about our local State hospital and will do that later but right now I have to run and get to my flu clinic so I can start shooting people!

stay healthy, sane and dirty
 

HiDelight

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whoops ..you all know "shooting" does not mean with a gun I hope ..I am a pacifist by nature ..I should have said "GIVEING SHOTS!!!" LOL!!!
 

vfem

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Everytime I try to sit and read this something happens! I get a headache first, now I'm hung over.... :tongue

Ok, I've gotten half way through and I know I'm going to agree with this. I NEED my garden. Especially when other things are just not working for me anymore.

I'm glad you have us as well as we have you here too! This is a great resource on so many levels. Not just educational :bouquet
 

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