One morning, I spotted a few weeds springing up close to a rose bush, but they were so tiny that I postponed pulling them out. Day after day, I pushed back the weeding because they looked manageable and harmless. In a couple of weeks, the weeds had grown and taken over the garden. However, I observed that the roses continued to produce their characteristic fragrant blooms despite being surrounded by weeds. Thankfully, I discovered mulching as a permanent solution to the incessant weeds springing up by deploying coconut fiber on top of the soil to reduce the need for constant weeding.
I can liken this incident to situations in our personal and professional lives, when “weeds” such as bad habits, toxic situations, colleagues, friends or even family members may emerge first as tiny and insignificant. By choosing not to deal with such issues immediately, for the fear of not being accepted for who we truly are, we undermine our true and authentic selves. Therein lies the danger! Allowing such conditions to fester for long either makes us worse versions of ourselves or redirects our focus into putting a lot of hard work into trivial issues.
Just as weeds grow quickly in very fertile soil, so are bad habits and toxic people attracted to successful situations. The practice of weeding frequently is hard work and necessary because weeds need to be identified quickly and plucked out with their roots to ensure that they don’t grow back. However, mulching has proved to be much more efficient because it delivers a protective layer over the soil so that weed growth is suppressed in the long term. It also delivers additional benefits such as keeping the soil cool and retaining moisture in the soil for a longer period.
For me, mulching equates to self-care practices such as mindfulness, regular walks, gardening, sleeping well and healthy eating so we are in the right frame of mind to recognize unfavorable situations for what they really are and deal with them immediately. Additionally, finding a sense of purpose or meaning in our work, means that we are motivated, so our locus of control is more internal than external. It is then that we can become proactive and focus our energies and attention on what truly counts as well as what we have influence over.
Just like the roses did not have control over the weeds, they did not stop being roses or producing their beautiful and fragrant blooms, the best quality most people adore roses for. In the same vein, even when you cannot control how you are treated by others, you still have control over how you react to it.
Take care of yourself, until my next reflection!
