Are You A Master Gardener in Someone Else's Life?

My husband has an amazing gift for gardening. He can grow so many different kinds of plants and his specialty is orchids. They are beautiful! The time, care and nurturing he puts into the taking care of his plants shows in how they flourish. He truly has a "green thumb."

I, on the other hand, have a "black thumb." It doesn't matter how many different kinds of plants I try to grow or how much time I spend on them, they never seem to survive.

I am a Master Gardener, though, when it comes to nurturing, fertilizing and taking care of the loved ones in my life. I try to pay attention to their needs and am aware of their "growing" seasons and "dormant" seasons. I do my best to shine just the right amount of light (encouragement and wisdom) into their lives.

With all this tending to the other "gardens" in my family, I didn't realize that my own garden had gone dormant. Where there should've been buds and blooms, there were only stunted plants overshadowed by weeds.

Isn't it amazing how we can spend so much time taking care of others and forget completely about ourselves?

In the past year, I've been trying to learn more about me and what helps me to "grow." I'm trying things I've always talked about trying, but, until this year, never did.  I went to a writer's workshop in a town I'd never been to and with people I didn't know. I also went on a cruise.  I had so much fun at both and felt energized! It felt like coming out of a long sleep.

How is your garden growing? To quote my sister, "Are you Bonsai-gardening someone else's life and leaving your own to wither?" Bonsai gardening is a very detailed, labor-intensive, nurturing type of gardening. The careful, selective pruning at just the right time to shape the plant takes a lot of time. If you've ever seen the little Bonsai trees, it can take years to grow a very small, carefully shaped tree.

Are you spending so much time on everyone else that you've forgotten how to take care of yourself? Here's a test...ask yourself this..."If someone gave me a day all to myself to do whatever I want, would I have any idea what I would like to do?" If you can't come up with one thing you'd like to do, your garden has gone dormant and it's time to bring it into the sunlight and start nurturing it. Start by making a list of what you'd like to do. Have a "possibilities" list and a "dream" list. Do something off your "possibilities" list...soon...within the next month! Share your "dream" list with your loved ones. Sharing it helps you move toward  a "someday" of actually getting to do it.

It may take time for your garden to start growing again, but it's worth it. We weren't created to wither away, we were created to blossom and bloom!

Become a Master Gardener of yourself today. I guarantee you'll have a "green thumb" in YOU!