A Work In Progress

A Work In Progress

It was a game changer for me when I realized I could just try again

Chamomile growing through a crack in the brick patio. Photo by author.

It was a game-changer for me when I realized I could just try again, or that stopping didn’t mean I could never start again.

Let me tell you what I mean.

I wanted to eat healthier. Specifically, a mostly clean diet: vegetables, fruit, seeds, nuts, lots and lots of water, and herbal tea. So that’s what I did for a couple of weeks.

Then, I ordered a pizza.

I was so upset with myself. I failed. I spent the next few days binging on an exorbitant amount of processed junk food. In the middle of that process, a thought occurred to me. It was so simple, yet life-changing.

Who said I could never eat a healthy meal again?!

I took some time to really think about that, think about that in terms of everything in my life.

There are so many people I know who tried something once, ‘it didn’t work’, and so that was it; they ‘failed’.

But life is a work in progress, always. There is never really a permanent failure, where nothing can be done in a different way, or at a different time.

There is an art quote I love, and it goes something like this:

A painting is never really done; the artist has to just find a stopping point.

The same is true for life; nothing is ever done.

Another example is from my vegetable garden. For years, I planted rows and rows of carrots. It was the easiest thing to grow, besides tomatoes.

Then, I moved to where I am now, Rustic Wildflowers Farmstead, and suddenly my carrots wouldn’t grow.

I used the same seed variety I always used, but nothing. I watered a lot and a little, but not even one carrot grew that first year.

I decided to try the next year again with a new seed variety. Nothing. I planted seeds throughout the summer, and that year I grew two carrots, literally. It was better than nothing, but frustrating.

My family eats carrots raw, and we can them to use in recipes, like soups, throughout the year. Two carrots couldn’t be canned.

The third year I decided to change the location. I planted two varieties of seeds. But still nothing.

I huffed. I resigned myself to nothing happening again that year—another year without homegrown carrots.

The next day, on a whim, I decided to sow some more seeds, just in case.

A couple of weeks later, walking through, inspecting the garden, I noticed that a whole long row of carrots had sprouted.

I gasped. I was so happy, so excited.

They were still small, but their fluffy green tops were unmistakable.

Most people give up, declaring, “I can’t grow carrots.” In fact, I’ve heard some variation of that before from most people regarding various subjects.

The truth is, if you don’t want to, if you’re not interested, then don’t waste your time, don't keep trying, don’t grow the carrots, don’t continue the diet, don’t start a new yoga practice.

We all only have one life.

But if you are interested, who said you can never try again, or start over?!

It is truly life-changing when you think deeply about it.

It melts anxiety away. It melts sadness away. It leaves you simply with your life, an amazing, constant work in progress.