How to deal with an emotional dive
Put yourself in the garden when you need a way to deal with stress.
I am writing this the morning after our apparently I.Q. deficient voting population decided they would rather have a bloated, failed businessman, racist, convict rather than someone superbly qualified to lead our country for the next four years. Otherwise known as the election. There are so many adjectives from which to choose to describe my current feelings: Shattered? Dejected? Crushed? Fearful? All of the above? For those few who read this and follow, you know I typically only share my thoughts on Mondays but I also think writing helps my mind and stress levels, hence a Friday post. Please tune back in on Monday when I’ll be writing about the importance of a variety of seating in every garden.
How does the human mind cope with extreme shock and sadness? When the “electoral” results (such a flaw) began coming in last night, I lasted all of 15 minutes before I had to don my Rudolph reflectors and go for a walk. I had little doubt I might just experience my first ever heart attack had I stayed glued to the TV. Needless to say, I slept but 3 or 4 fitful hours last night once I knew the trouble our country, no, the entire WORLD will face in over the next years.
So, what should I do today to keep my blood pressure from popping the cuff? Cower in the corner with a bottle of bourbon? Turn on the “news” and try to find out just what went wrong? (A hard no to both of those.) Since I’ve hung up my running shoes after 50+ years of pounding the pavement, I now begin each day with a pretty fast paced one hour walk to mesh with my squirrel-like metabolism. Upon returning home, I will then feed one of our cats his “second breakfast” before I have my first. So that’s what I did at 6:30 to beat some school traffic. I love these walks as they help me coordinate all of the moving parts of my more relaxed but no less busy retirement life. And no company or ear buds needed, thanks.
Samson relaxing after his “Second breakfast”. (And yes, he has a few extra toes on each paw)
My mind was still racing with the shock of witnessing the stupidity of our nation after having my hard-boiled egg and toast. Then it hit me. Go find something to do in the garden! Now don’t get me wrong. I spend a decent portion of every day in our cottagey garden but this morning it really dawned on me just how damn lucky I am to have such a passion for being outdoors and pulling weeds. So, I grabbed the shears and went to town on the spent asters in our raised beds.
A while back I wrote a piece about “plants and memories” in which I touched on the power of horticulture therapy https://ahomeforyourgnome.com/plants-and-memories/
At first, I was a little reluctant to call what I did this morning as “therapy” but now that I put away the tools, I’d say that is exactly what it was. A way of coping with disappointment and stress.
Over the years, I’ve given so many talks about gardening. I often use images of our own to help illustrate a point. A comment I’ve received more than once is “that sure looks beautiful but it looks like a lot of work.” My usual response has been “oh, it’s not that much work” (A big fat lie!) Today, as I mourn the loss of our country’s sanity, my reply would be “It’s a lot cheaper than a therapist!” My small piece of advice if you need a break from doom-scrolling is go out and create a garden and then sink your newly calloused hands into that soil! It may just save your life.
Peace……of mind