Our bodies are our gardens; our wills are our gardeners
Updated at 2020-06-05 05:48:28 Posted in (Primary)General,
"Our bodies are our gardens - our wills are our gardeners" - William Shakespeare
I have
never been a very natural or gifted gardener – I keep trying though. At this
stage I have many pot plants inside my house & outside my house and my long
term goal is to grow a beautiful large garden full of flowers, herbs, veges
& fruits one day. A common dream for most nutritionists I would think.
However, right now I really have to work at it. I don’t know how many pot
plants I have left to die or slowly wither away in the past, with short bouts
of thorough watering & care amidst the extended times of neglect. It was a
common story for me - I would get too busy & stressed with life and completely
forget to look after them. Or even worse - I’d see them and think to myself,
“later, I’ll definitely water them later”. I’d see a wilting plant and wonder
about the state of its soil, is it getting enough sun, too much sun, is it
receiving too much wireless radiation, should I move it to another room and so
on. And then I’d get sidetracked. Or even worse, I’d purposefully not look at
it because I couldn’t stand to see its wilting state.
Years ago when we were moving house, I was forced
to face the truth of my utter neglect to some of these beautiful plants
(thoroughly dead forgotten plants under the house, around the back, knocked
over by possums, tripped over by people and so on). I made a promise to myself
(and to the new plants I purchased) that I would devote the time, love and care
that these plants deserve. Funnily enough, during that time I was also at a low
point with my own health and I always had this niggling thought in the back of
my mind –that the state of my plants was reflective of the state of my own
health. The care I gave to my plants reflected the care I gave to myself. Given
my on and off again struggles with gut health and eating habits (even after I
became a nutritionist) - I was frustrated that it felt like the same issues
kept re-appearing time and time again. I sometimes found myself on a loop that
I couldn’t seem to break. Here’s the loop:
Things are going well, my health,
diet & lifestyle -> I focus on plans/goals to achieve -> Life gets
busy -> I get more stressed -> I eat more convenient foods -> I start
skipping breakfast -> I drink less water/have more caffeine -> I snack
more often -> I get less sun/exercise -> my sleep quality rapidly reduces
-> my symptoms start up again and they increase more rapidly until I am
forced to break the cycle.
Given my years of dealing with very poor gut health
in the past, I recognise the signs & symptoms and I now know what I have to
do in order to get myself back on track (such as nourishing my body, mind &
soul with routines involving healthy wholesome foods, taking time out to do the
things I enjoy, spending more time with loved ones, getting daily exercise and
bringing everything back to a state of balance). But then……life starts getting
busy again, those old thought patterns & habits creep back in and the cycle
repeats.
I remember saying to my husband one day how the
state of my plants seemed to be reflecting the state of my own health. This
really isn’t surprising when you think about it, especially given that
gardening didn’t exactly come naturally to me (unlike those born with a green
thumb). If I don’t have time for my own health & wellness – what chance do
my plants have? And to think that some days I couldn’t even bare to look at
those plants. It made me think back to my own health during my teens and early
twenties and let me tell you - if my body was a garden then it was on a fast
route to being a very sad looking garden as I rarely took the time out to look
after myself properly. Eating a healthy diet was a chore I often chose to neglect;
I barely knew how to cook for myself and I really didn’t have the desire to
learn. Like many, I didn’t stop these unhealthy lifestyle habits until chronic
illness forced me to. And to this day, I can honestly say I am very grateful
for this as it forced me on a new path of discovery, learning and a career I am
now extremely passionate about.
Today I can look around at my plants and see the
improvement that came once I devoted more time & energy to them. My will to
look after myself and my plants has definitely improved. They still aren’t
perfect, there are still weeks where the neglect can start to be noticed –
however what has changed is that I notice these patterns much quicker than I
used to. I can break the cycle much faster now (ie. well before the plants are
dead) and I can ensure enough time to make sure that they are now getting the
right amount of water, soil, nutrients, sunlight, love & care that they
require – at least most of the time. And my own health reflects this as well.
It’s not 100%, there’s plenty of room for improvement, but compared to what it
was many years ago…. I can only smile. I smile because I know that in a few
years’ time – it’ll be even better.
And who knows, maybe one day I’ll have that
beautiful lush garden I’ve come to dream of.
- Leanne Aster
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