Gardening: A Great Way To Better Health

After a long time working for a big company, I quit my job and started my own consulting business. I loved not having to wake up to an alarm clock, not having to commute, and having the freedom of making my own schedule. After awhile, I started to notice that I had put on a few pounds. I told myself it was no big deal, I would get into a workout routine after my business was up and running.

Two years and fifty pounds later, I knew I really needed to do something drastic. But what? My business had taken off, and I never had time to work out! The freedom of being in control of my own schedule became an inability to stop working. I was fat, tired, stressed and starting to think about going back to an office job.

As a last resort, I decided I needed to join a gym. The commitment to the gym contract and the money I had to pay would force me to follow through. In fact, the more expensive the gym, the more guilty I would feel if I skipped a workout.

I kept putting it off. Then, one particularly stressful day, I made some coffee and went out on the back porch to take a break. It was a beautiful day, and I was feeling upset that I never got outside anymore. To distract me from all the negative thoughts and stress, I grabbed a book from the side table. It was a gardening book.

I had always planned on starting a garden. I loved everything about the idea, the warm soil, watching the seeds grow, harvesting fresh produce. I collected gardening books and articles like a squirrel storing nuts for winter. One day, I would have my garden.

That’s when it hit me. Why force myself to go to the gym when I could get a workout doing something I always wanted to do? All that money I was about to spend to motivate myself with guilt could be used instead to by garden supplies. I could motivate myself with something rewarding! No treadmills or bikes, no ugly rooms filled with other sweaty, stressed people. At that moment I realized I a garden could help me live longer and also be happier.

So I did it. And while I will not be getting into skinny jeans in the near future, I have lost weight. Better yet, I found a very healthy way to manage stress. At the same time, I realized a dream! There is nothing I enjoy more than going out into my garden. It serves as a refuge when I’m stressed, as a grazing ground when I want a snack, and it definitely serves as a source of pride and achievement. If the day gets too hectic, I shut my office door and go out for a half hour to recharge. I treat myself with gardening magazines instead of fatty snacks. My garden made me realize that health is not just about how much you weigh, it’s about how much you enjoy the life you have.