Weed Therapy

Therapeutic. That is what my friends tell me about weeding. As I swat another black fly and dig endless for the tendrils of my latest victim, I try to keep this thought in mind. Time to think, reflect, and ponder while in a flowerbed making the world a more beautiful place. What drivel, what hogwash, what wishful thinking. My thoughts are consumed with complaints and I just want to whine like a spoiled child. I hate weeding! So why is this task so arduous for me? After all, I love planning new flowerbeds, buying the perennials, bushes, and annuals. I don’t even mind planting my new recruits, but weeding is another task completely. There is something so hopeful about the freshly dug flowerbed with its new promise of beauty and nary a weed to be found. And there is something so repugnant about a flowerbed completely overrun with weeds.



So, I need an attitude change. I’m always telling my students that attitude matters. So, let’s try this with a positive attitude. What can I learn from my weeding endeavors? Okay, I think the first thing I learned is that ROOTS matter. If you just worry about the surface stuff, you really don’t effect change in a garden or in life. Your roots really matter; things interconnect in ways that you may not foresee from a surface glance. Getting to "the root of the problem" is mandatory for effecting change.



Secondly, I think that you need BOUNDARIES. Without something to clearly delineate the driveway from the rock garden, the two become enmeshed and intertwined in unfortunate ways. Just like in life, we all need to set clear boundaries so that work, friends, whatever it is that overruns your life, doesn’t overtake the truly important.



So, I guess I CAN find something therapeutic in weeding after all. Of course, I still wish I was sitting on the patio reading a book, but at least I did find a worthwhile contemplation. I don’t think that you’ll ever find me out gardening at 6 AM thinking this is bliss, but I am glad that I persevered for today.