Hello Happy Nichola
I wanted to share with you what discovering gardening has done for me since I've began my education in this fabulous hobby. I shall try keep it short as to not to bore you but I hope it may be of some use.
So as a typical busy on the go mum & wife getting wrapped up in everyday chores and responsibilities I started to become a bit lost with myself. I can do mum quite well (most of the time when they aren't making me yell or despair) and I can do being Mrs W good too but being Nichola, well I didn't really know how to! I didn't really have anything to escape to or have a hobby that kept me engaged enough (like my 2 year old boy I get bored easy!). Things came to a crunch when I hit my lowest point I had ever been. Things at home weren't great with Mr.W losing a job and wondering how on earth we would cope and trying to keep the family happy just became all a bit too much. I cried lots, I over thought a LOT, and I just couldn't see any light at all. Thankfully a little hope was thrown our way when Mr.W managed to get a new job, great so the 'normal' functions of family life could start to get back on track but I knew that I had to find something for me to do where I could switch off from being mum & wife.
Hello gardening! I can't really remember exactly how it started but I had a pack of seeds(Cosmos Versailles Tetra) I'd gotten free from a magazine and thought "Oh I'll give it a go and hope for the best!" Wow I couldn't believe I had managed to not kill them. They actually became the start of my obsession. Everyday I got up I would check on them, soon as I returned home they would be checked again. Then when the first flower bud appeared I was elated. What a proud moment I had (sounds a bit pathetic haha) but it was like nurturing a baby-minus the sleepless nights and smelly nappies! So a few more different seeds were sown with success which helped me create my fabulous hanging baskets, and well the rest as they say was history. I had something that I could be good at for ME that gave ME satisfaction and made ME happy, you get the picture here :D.
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| A Very happy Nichola |
The lovely thing about gardening is there's always something to learn regardless of experience or age and I love to learn. I got a fab bunch of books off Mum-who is a very good gardener, which I read lots to get to grips with and find rather fascinating. I've got some lovely friendly people on Twitter who offer fantastic advice when you need it too all from different backgrounds. The other nice things are it gives you escapism from everyday woes and offers you down time to reevaluate life's little trivias. It gets you outdoors and out with nature, yes even if it rains a little. It's a good bit of exercise but it's the best for giving you mindfulness & hope! For me it's helped me be Nichola again with extra happiness & a new lease of life.
Until next time
N xx
A nice, heartfelt post. As you've found out gardening is good for the head, heart and soul. You'll never stop learning for as long as you garden. Above all else enjoy what you do and remain optimistic through the inevitable ups and downs.
ReplyDeleteHappy gardening. Flighty xx
Thankyou Flighty! It is a bit deep this one but because it's real & genuine I wanted to share that with everyone who does/doesn't garden to explain some benefits. It doesn't fix problems but it can help give headspace to focus a bit better I think! Xx
ReplyDeleteCould not agree more. It's my way of getting away from everything and I love it. Look forward to your posts xx
ReplyDeleteThankyou! It's a fantastic escapism but with constant rewards & a few little spanners thrown in along the way just to keep us on our toes!!
DeleteWe loved this post! So uplifting so included it in our company blog - http://www.tigersheds.com/thehiphorticulturist/whyspendingtimeoutsideisgoodforyou/
ReplyDeletePlease see the mention at the bottom :)
Thanks,
Oh my wow Thankyou for putting a link on. A lot of people seem to be able to identify with my post. It is very honest & real but it really does help no matter how much you do a little can make a big
DeleteDifference :)
What an honest blog post! Thanks for sharing and yes, gardening is a great bit of exercise, and it does allow you to get into a 'flow' of focusing on tasks.
ReplyDeleteThankyou for the comment Hugh! It's a real good all round hobby/job that has a good mix of everything in to keep one happy! :)
DeleteSo true! The garden (or for that matter any garden) is somewhere I can disappear from this world into another of I need to. It's quite a strange thing but it's so easy to get lost in the wonder and fascination of things growing, or the birds and insects going about their lives whilst oblivious to ours, that it becomes a powerfully restorative activity, like few others. We all need that from time to time!
ReplyDeleteThat’s exactly how it makes me feel! More people should really look at doing just a little bit because it helps so so much :)
DeleteIt can take a lot of courage to be honest sometimes. And honesty can help not just yourself but also others, so well done for sharing. Knowing how gardening makes me feel I can totally undetstand how it helps you and so many others x
ReplyDeleteThankyou Louise. It's daunting to share such private things sometimes but if it helps towards breaking the stigma & hopefully make someone else feel less alone it's all worth it 😊 Gardening has really been my saviour xx
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