Gardening: A Great Way To Better Health
Saturday, March 13th, 2010After spending many years working for a large corporation, I decided to quit and start my own business. It was wonderful in the beginning. I could wake up when I wanted to, I did not have to make the long commute to the office, and I could choose which days I wanted to work. After awhile, though, I started to notice I was very stressed, and that I had put on a few too many pounds. It was no big deal, I told myself, I would find time to work out when my business was stable.
Well, in two years I managed to gain fifty pounds. Instead of making time to work out, I poured all my energy into my business. The business was doing great, but I was falling apart. Instead of making my own schedule, my schedule was controlling me. I was fat, stressed, tired and running out of motivation to stay in business. I knew it was time to do something drastic.
As a last-ditch effort to turn things around, I made the decision to join a gym. I figured the gym contract and expense of the whole thing would guilt me into never missing a workout. It would force me to follow through.
Then, one very stressful day, I made a cup of coffee and went to the back porch to try and settle down. It was a bright and sunny day, and this made me even more frustrated. I started a lot of very negative talk about how my own business was no good if my life was a total mess. I never even got to be outside anymore! To distract myself, I picked up a book from the side table. It was a gardening book.
I had always loved everything about the idea of gardening and had always wanted to start a big one of my own. I could picture myself plunging my hands into the warm soil, watching the little seeds come up, getting to harvest my own fresh vegetables. For years I collected gardening books and articles, reading them and stacking them up for the one day I would finally be able to do it.
That’s when it hit me. Why force myself to go to the gym when I could get a workout doing something I always wanted to do? All that money I was about to spend to motivate myself with guilt could be used instead to by garden supplies. I could motivate myself with something rewarding! No treadmills or bikes, no ugly rooms filled with other sweaty, stressed people. At that moment I realized I a garden could help me live longer and also be happier.
I put in my garden. And although I will not be getting into a pair of skinny jeans any time soon, I did lose some weight. More importantly though, I was able to realize a dream and also found a great way to deal with the stresses of my business. There is nothing I find more relaxing than going out to the garden. On a busy day I find it easy to go outside for a while and do a couple gardening chores, just enough to recharge my batteries. I have even gotten to the point where I grab a gardening magazine instead of a snack! My garden helped me realize that health is not just about weight. It’s about happiness.



























