I'm at my happiest when I'm dirty, which I am most of the time all year around. I think gardening is fun, relaxing, frustrating, annoying, a lot of hard work, a lot of enjoying the results of the hard work, a source of energy and it also gives me a lot of satisfaction no matter the result. To be able to share whatever I've achieved or not achieved with people on the Stew is an extra bonus. We all need a bit of praise and a bit of comfort now and then, and frankly a lot of my friends just sort of glaze over when I start talking about the garden and our plants. Since most of us garden we can relate to the happiness of getting a bumper squash crop or a single bloom on the carefully nurtured rose bush, and to feeling sad because the winter killed off a favourite plant or the rabbits or cats dug up the radishes. I think that's why we're so friendly and supportive. Anyways, doing something that gives me pleasure and also challenges me will bring a sense of fulfillment, and that in itself makes me feel happy.
Well said Droopy! I have encountered that glazed over look too (oh well..). My thought is that when I retire, I will join the local garden society. Or maybe I'll take some landscaping courses. Or join a community garden. OR continue my affiliation with GardenStew!
Am I happy with myself? Absolutely! For me I have achieved a balance in my life with 2 very absorbing,but sometimes frustrating, hobbies.The garden pottering and tinkering and the quilting and needlework slot very nicely together over the year.I have a wonderful husband and some very good friends and a set of internet friends that give me different insights to the world around me both in gardening and the world of samoyeds.I'm sure that gardening in whatever capacity makes us much more in sync with our parts of the world and we can take pleasure in the small things that other people would probably pass over. I used to belong to a sewing forum but never really felt part of the 'girlie' chat.I don't follow fashion and am not remotely interested in any of the soaps or reality shows that fill the tv listings which meant I didn't get involved in many threads.Like lots of us I feel quite at home here and did from my very first posts. I also enjoyed the thread about the ship breaking S-H who knew?
Come to think of it, one of my earliest memories is gardening with my mother, (growing tomatoes from seeds)... Smells can actually cause some of the most powerful memory flashbacks! So whenever I get a whiff of what the leaves of a tomato plant smell like - I am instantly taken back into time, (almost as good as being there I swear)... Later in school, one teacher tried to initiate a love for gardening in all her students. By teaching how to plant beans, corn, and peas. Many students felt totally lost at first, some hated the activity, while others grew to love it later - However for me it was nothing new, which is why I got full marks on that project! So this too is something which I remember as if it was yesterday. By the way, the smell of freshly cut grass on a warm day of Spring also has the exact same effect on me, as well as the smell of soil during a torrential downpour in the Monsoon season, (even how a healthy ocean and beach smells like)... So had I not had all these experiences very early in my childhood - I seriously doubt if I'd have grown up to become what I am today... S-H + Horticulture = Happy and productive gardener! Q.E.D - Quod Erat Demonstrandum (that which had to be proven/demonstrated)!!! I think this is how I'll eventually end up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MohJmg9ku0A
I am not sure I would say happy. Weird, I know, but maybe more "content" than happy. I am still raising children, at least I feel a responsibility to still guiding and helping them even though the youngest is almost an adult, but I still stress and worry over them...each one. Not that I haven't been a loving and caring mom, but I also worry that I failed them or one or another in some way as a parent in forgetting to teach them something that was important and I missed it nor did I want to be a helicopter parent and do it all for them. silly huh? Will I get better (mentally)? probably not, huh?
I retired at aged 48 and since then i have woken up happy every morning,..of course there are the occasional stye in the eye or my iffy back gives a jolt but even then i find life is great,..i have more to do now than ever and doing what i want when i want and as long as i want,..being entertained by nine cats,..(Stratsmum sent me a message saying,..every life should have nine cats,..true),.. a dog and two fish tanks is a laugh a minute,..i rub my hands with glee,..often,. much to the dismay of the fur babies who probably think i have finally freaked,..isn't life great.
I'm amazed that we all think alike. It was so nice to find a place without that glazed look or a roll of the eyes. This is my get away place. My sit down, take a break place that I can talk, laugh, brag, learn and feel good about what I love to do. Thank you all for being there when I need you. Especially on those cold, cloudy, rainy days. You are my ray of sunshine.
I think connecting with Nature, having that bond with things outside ourselves, I think that's very affirming and uplifting. And then being able to share that bond with like minded folk, that's even better. It's my firm belief that the overcoming of whatever obstacles are in one's way in pursuit of one's goals and passions, and in the process of doing that, being able to connect with others about those goals and passions, and being able to share and exchange ideas and information, is the stuff of which happiness is made. It's not about "stuff," or wealth, or the latest gadget or being in love or having a new car. I fully embrace and completely believe in the saying "Happiness is a journey, not a destination." I don't know about you all, but I know the number of times I've worked and slaved and pushed to reach a particular goal. And yeah, there was a sweet triumph upon attaining it, but it didn't last. Sure, I basked in the glory for a bit, but it was transient, and then there was that inevitable let-down, the anti-climactic feeling afterwards, a sort of "now what?" sense. For me, (and we're all different) the journey TOWARDS that goal, and the many milestones on that journey gave me a continuing sense of accomplishment and yes, happiness, as I celebrated that particular triumph while also looking forward to the next milestone while contemplating the next obstacle, the next barrier in the way to it, and the road I would travel and the tools I would employ to overcome them. Again, a personal belief of mine is that the moment I stop looking FORWARD is the moment I begin to atrophy. When I begin ONLY living in the present, or dwelling only on or in the past, that's when I begin a downward slide and spiral that I have experienced a couple of times in my life, and don't ever want to again! Well, didn't *I* just wax philosophical? Ya'll ignore me, I must need more coffee. As you were.
