Gardening has proved to be a healing experience for distressed souls. I had been in a relationship with my now-ex-boyfriend for three years. Everything seemed perfect at the start, but gradually, things fell apart. Eventually, we broke up. I felt shattered; it was as if my entire world had collapsed, especially since this happened just days before my 30th birthday. Ohhhhh, I found myself plunged into an existential crisis, questioning whether I would ever love or find love again.
I found solace in reading, and during one of my reading sprees, I discovered how gardening can help detox your mind and even heal you. I was sceptical. Perhaps, like many other things around us, we have become so familiar with them that we no longer value them. We didn’t have a garden at home, so I decided to spend every weekend with my closest friend and her family in their small backyard garden. The first thing I noticed was that weeding made me feel like I was clearing out my emotions. That phenomenon remains mysterious to me. But I went ahead and did some research.
You Didn’t Know Gardening Had Healing Power
Research shows that spending time with nature helps improve mental wellness and overall well-being. Nature has a calming, soothing impact on man. Hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, and care homes include gardens in their architectural designs to provide a holistic approach to health care. Oftentimes, people take a break from the brick forest to spend time alone in the woods, an experience that has proven to be refreshing.
When Things Fall Apart, Consult Nature (Gardening)
- The Nurturing Effect
Gardening teaches patience; it teaches you to slow down, take a minute, and trust the process. Gardening helps you take a day at a time. Spending time gardening gradually improves anxiety and depression. The process of planting and nurturing entails spending time out in the sun, feeling the earth beneath you, and watching your plants grow. It connects you with nature and decreases stress levels. The body absorbs Vitamin D from the sun, and the body releases happy hormones. Nurturing gives a sense of purpose and a reason to start another day.
- Gardening Teaches You Responsibility
Starting a garden takes responsibility and a sense of awareness. Neglect on your path as an owner can destroy days and months of work. Gardening helps build consistency and the habit of intentionality. It helps to start with a small garden. Gradual expansion can begin after a good level of commitment and responsibility has been built. With time, these values seep through into other aspects of life and relationships with others.
- The view
The garden becomes a safe haven even when there’s no active gardening going on. It is satisfying enough to sit amongst the plants, breathe, and admire your plants. The reward of gardening is thriving plants. While you sit with your planet and breathe in the oxygen coming from them, you could read a book, meditate, pray, or write. It’s spending time out in nature—the nature that has thrived in your own hands.
- Fresh produce
Healing to the mind and healing to the body. Gardening eventually becomes the start of a green journey for people. Once you start to enjoy the goodness of organic farm produce, there’s really no coming back from it. Research shows that an organic diet reduces the risk of developing cancer. Benefiting from your garden not only brings a sense of accomplishment, it also nourishes and heals your body.
- Life and Death
Nature experiences birth and death. Not everything that is planted will yield. There will be moments of death and failure. Sometimes healing doesn’t take a linear path. Gardening will help you come to terms with the unavoidable realities of life; it will help you understand grief. There will be moments of reflection. Plants will wilt to earth, but also, from earth, plants will be reborn.
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