Last Friday I wrote about the fact that I now have a garden. I will be growing a large amount of my own veggies and some fruit over the summer. I love the idea of cultivating and growing the food that I nourish my body with.
For the purpose of this post I want to take this a step further and ask are you doing the things that you need to do to grow your best life? I would argue that most people aren’t putting enough time into creating the life that they would like to live because it may feel overwhelming.
When farmers work to grow their best crops they plants the seeds, water the crops, pull the weeds, add fertilizer, sprinkle lady bugs to eat the bad bugs that could devour the crops. Farmers are constantly working on their gardens/crops because there are outside forces-NATURE that always endanger what they are trying to grow. Nature would be a euphemism for life for the purposes of this post. The busiest time (it seems) for farmers is Spring/Summer/Fall that is the time when the ground is tilled, seeds are planted, and the Harvest is brought in.
Are you working your hardest Spring/Summer/and Fall to create opportunities and resting during the winter? If you’ve read the book The Ant and the Grasshopper you’ll remember that the Ant worked hardest during the summer when the Grasshopper was having fun. Winter is the time to rest up and create a plan for the Spring/Summer/ and Fall. If you haven’t done it already, start working on a plan now.
About a month ago I worked on my plans for the summer. I wanted to make sure that I would be able to have an amazing summer without spending a ton of cash. So, I spent 3 or 4 hours working on a plan. I was able to come up with a ton of free/cheap opportunities that are already on my calendar and I can’t complain about having nothing to do this summer.
In cultivating your best life do you keep looking for opportunities? What do you enjoy doing? Have you asked yourself? Do you regularly look for opportunities to do what you like do? Are you looking for additional work that would be easier to do during the warmer months? The opportunities that your find or create would be the seeds that you’re planting for your success. The water would be making sure to rest and keep energized in order to keep planting seeds of success and not get discouraged when some of the seeds to come to fruition.
I’ve briefly talked about the fact that I want to start dating again. The problem has been that I am busy and it has been difficult meeting people. I don’t party like I used to and I am more likely to be working than to be at happy hour. So, even though I don’t love it I did add online dating to the things that I’m doing to meet people. I’ve also added: Going to Meetups, telling people that I want to meet someone, volunteering, changing my routine, and adding time to my schedule for dating. Each week is different so the scheduled dating time changes. Going into summer I am trying to add 3 days a week for dating availability. Obviously I won’t tell the guys about my schedule. But, I have eliminated an excuse to why I can’t meet someone due to time. I have stopped online dating for the next 5 weeks due to a lot of travel that I will be doing, but I will reactivate the account when I get back.
Do you pull out the weeds in the opportunities that you’re exploring? I recent wrote about how I was almost scammed in an opportunity that I was looking at. Luckily, I was able to figure out was going on and pulled out before getting getting scammed. Some opportunities that you find might be duds. Make sure to recognize them for what they are and pull them out like the weeds they are and don’t waste time and energy on things that probably won’t work out or could lose you money. For example if you’re spending money to participate in an “opportunity” then it’s probably not an opportunity that you want to explore. The weeds could also be bad people. So, make sure you’re diligent about cultivating a group of positive and encouraging people around you.
I would say the fertilizer and lady bugs would friends, family, and colleagues who can nourish and encourage you as you cultivate your seeds. They are also good at identifying people who would trample on your seeds and keep them from growing. Some people don’t support your dreams and you may realize it too late.
Check out this video from 1934. The lesson it teaches still resonates. There is a political slant that I won’t touch in this video-LOL!
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Yeah I think I’m constantly reevaluating, making changes, finding out what is working and what isn’t. There never seems to be a finish line…just a work in progress. Good luck with the online dating. I just seem to be avoiding it for some reason.
Why can’t it be easy? I’m getting better at reevaluating and making changes. Before I would fight the fact that things weren’t working out. Now, I try for awhile then move on. Online dating is not my favorite thing to do. But, I have met some nice guys and it does force me to try to meet people. I prefer the let things happen naturally method of meeting someone but so far it hasn’t worked for me. At this point I’m willng to try everything within reason.
Great post! I like this idea of growing your best life. I definitely have made it my goal…have been focused on getting my finances in order since mid-2011, now I am close to being debt free with a decent monthly income. I also know how important it is to live in the here and now. Not worrying and driving myself crazy with comparisons and whatnot. I like working hard for the future but also want to be aware of the life I am living now and appreciating this moment!
I have been thinking about this for awhile because I haven’t been happy about the direction that I’ve been going. So, I had to be honest and have courage to be self-critical about what I was doing to get in the way of my personal goals. It was very telling and I am in the process of trying to get on the “right track!” and some days it’s difficult, other days things are going great.
You just gave me so much to think about! I try every hard to think about every change that I make. Its the only way for me to comfortable on the path that I’m on.
But don’t over think the process though. I got stuck for many years when I over thought some of my decisions. I am trying to find that happy medium and it’s def. a process!
Awesome video and so true!
I wish I had both more and better land for a garden.
I think you are right. To maximize one’s life they have to work at it and not be afraid to fail or look embarrassed either.
I can’t believe how easy it is to get stuck. Life is such a mental game. I am looking forward to working on the garden. I need something to relax and mellow me out.