??That Unconventional Teacher
3 life-changing lessons from my plants
Happy Sunday Friends,
I started keeping plants in my home for a visual break from screens during lockdowns. Since then, I have learnt numerous lessons about self-care from them. But the following three have been life-changing:
Plants are very dramatic when it comes to having the right environment. They need the right balance of sun, air, water, care and patience to grow. You can move them from the window to the desk and watch them die within days.
Humans suffer similarly in the wrong environment. The only difference is that we ignore the signs for far too long.
We stay in dead-end jobs that slowly eat away our souls, we don’t take care of our bodies and slowly lose our health, we tolerate people who constantly pull us down and harbour regrets, and we don’t keep our promises to ourselves.
Therefore, the best gift we can give ourselves is to design our physical and digital environment to help us grow in every aspect of our lives. A good starting point is to surround ourselves with supportive people, find or create work that makes us excited and replace doom scrolling with walks, exercise, good literature and quality time with our loved ones.
2. Deep growth happens slowly, then suddenly
This is perhaps the biggest and most repeated lesson for me in patience.
Just as plants take their sweet time to develop deep roots in the soil before showing any growth on the surface, the hard work we put in and when no one is watching determines our results when people start noticing.
领英推荐
3. Every living being goes through seasons in their life to build character
Like plants, humans also go through different seasons in their lives. Some seasons are warm and fuzzy, and the conditions are great for starting projects, setting new goals and taking big risks. Some seasons are full of storms and require resilience. Some seasons require transformation, and some require stillness and relying on our roots to keep growing little by little. But all of them are equally important to sustain us through life.?
Have a great week.
Love,
Wajiha
Thanks for reading The Joy of Making. Subscribe for free to my substack to receive a new edition straight to your inbox every week.
What I enjoyed this week :
Podcast:
Mo and Steven’s conversations are always excellent. This one doesn’t disappoint, either. It made me add an alignment section to my monthly review, close my laptop and repot my plants while talking F1 (read, wishing Adrian Newey moves to Ferrari) with my brother.
Planting mint on my balcony:
I never thought this day would come, but here I am.
I am tired of paying 2-4 dollars for a lousy bunch of mint. So, I finally took the leap and planted some on my balcony. I hope it survives, and I can make endless batches of mint chutney.