Which Garden will represent you in 2021?
It’s January 2021, it’s a new year and no doubt people have made their new year’s resolutions.
I sense that many of us may have held back, not wanting to think ‘too big’ because we are unsure on how this pandemic will unfold.
However, what we can control, is what we can consciously add to and remove from our lives in order to bring us contentment today and to better prepare ourselves for the challenges that inevitably will come our way.
I view life like tending to a garden. The metaphorical view of the garden is that there are times we look at it proudly and appreciate its beauty. Everything has its own place, it’s all intentional and the garden’s features complement one another. Other times we can look at the same garden and it’s a complete state; overgrown, there is little light coming in, there are dead or dying plants and weeds are scattered throughout. If there was a pond, it would be stale, with little life, full of algae.
Or there is a third view. The garden is a little lack lustre; nothing really catches your eye and all you can see is right through to the back fence.
How do you visualise your ideal garden? What kind of garden do you think reflects your current life right now?
Garden One - You are excited about what it will look like on the back of the seeds you sewed last year. You have everything in place, and you are intrigued by how it will all unfold and develop compared to last season. The garden is well-kept; it’s maintained daily and is tended to, little and often. This is done by removing the dead leaves, or dead heading the flowers, replacing or nourishing the soil, moving things around or repotting to ensure the plants grow to their full potential in the new year.
Garden Two - You can’t separate the wood from the trees. It’s a mess. It’s overgrown. You’re thinking, what needs to be cleared? What needs replacing? Is there anything that I can salvage and nourish back to life? What needs cutting back to allow more light in to help it flourish and grow back stronger this year?
Garden Three - A minimal garden. There’s not a lot to it, the positive is that it is low maintenance and it’s a blank canvas. What you see, is literally what you get. You have a fairly good idea about what it will look like in a year, if you left it as it is. In life, we do need moments like this- to let be and reflect. However, when we leave it for too long, we end up feeling unsatisfied and unfulfilled. Where’s the life in that?
Where are you standing currently? In garden one, two or three?
I work with clients who look at their metaphorical garden in any one of these views.
What’s fascinating for me, as a coach, is that I get to observe the transformation from how my clients see their garden initially, what their ideal vision is and then seeing their vision come to life! To be with them planting these seeds, making changes and watching things bloom truly inspires and excites me. It reminds me about why I do this work. It’s a real honour to be a part of this journey of transformation with them.
You may feel life is all over the place right now and there are things in your life, that you feel no longer serve you. You may want to end or even nourish a particular relationship, but you’re not confident on where to begin.
Perhaps you fear life will look and feel the same as last year and you have a nagging sense that something is missing. Or maybe you now want to explore what you can potentially add but lost on what it is you really want.
This is where I come in. Now is the time to seek a coach, to help you build on this potential new life of yours and make it into a reality. The silver lining is you do have a blank canvas to totally recreate a different garden to be truly proud of.
Like gardening, life and your career can be viewed and treated in exactly the same way. It’s a fine balance isn’t it? It’s about maintaining it, nourishing it, keeping things moving. Some things may need to go in a different direction or location to maximise your full potential. Sometimes, disruption or a major life event, like a global pandemic, can be the catalyst to reassess and re-order your own life. Redefining what’s important and what’s not, now and going forward.
If we accept nothing in life lasts forever, we fully accept the process of cultivating a better garden by planting new seeds and recreating an entirely different garden more beautiful than the one previously. In Japan, they call this ‘Kintsukuroi’ the principle that teaches us how to work with failure. It’s a physical manifestation of resilience that emphasises the beauty of breaks and imperfections.
You may need an expert like a trained coach to help you start. An expert gardener and landscaper, one can say, to help piece things together, to assist you with some of the heavy lifting and help with brainstorming, redesigning and creating something you now want.
It’s never too late to start. Whatever your age or circumstances you can start today.
“So, start now. Start where you are. Start with fear. Start with pain. Start with doubt. Start with hands shaking. Start with voice trembling but start. Start and don’t stop. Start where you are, with what you have.”
So, what are you waiting for? Click here and let's arrange a Chemistry call today.
Let’s make the unimaginable – manageable.