It is harvest season, which means it's time for a little life lesson from the garden!
Every tasty veggie starts with a tiny bud…
I had a lot of buds through the season on my various plants, and some of them became veggies, and some of them didn’t.
They shared the same environments, soil, roots, stalks, and received the same care.
The input was the same for every bud, but the output was not.
Producing an edible fruit is an acceptable expected result… but so is NOT producing. And both are acceptable, natural, neutral outcomes.
And it got me thinking about how we see failure…
We’re taught not to fear failure, yet as a society, we only value success.
Failure is only an acceptable outcome if it eventually leads to an obvious success.
We are inundated with success stories and winners, as though the winners are the only ones who have something to teach us.
So much so, that it’s easy to assume that achieving the goal is the norm, and failing to achieve it is the uncommon, unnatural, fluke.
When we experience failure, or feel we could, it feels truly threatening, like we could spend our lives in shame because we must have done something wrong to deserve that. But that's simply not true.
In many cases, the people who came in 2nd, 10th, or last worked just as hard, trained just as long, were just as talented, and they have just as much wisdom to share as the “winners.”
Often, the winners simply had some small invisible force or advantage that just nudged them ahead.
Plants, aren’t celebrated if they produce the most or best fruit… nor do they wilt if they don’t produce, NOR do they care how many buds turn to fruit or don’t.
Their goal is simply to survive, to grow, and to TRY to produce.
Creation is simply in their nature…as it is in ours!
And my job as their plant mama is to maintain an environment where that is possible.
I propose we act more like the plants: a bit more unattached and unaffected by the outcome.
Success is natural. Failure, is also natural.
There is so much richness and beauty to be gained in the act of creating, regardless of the outcome.
So if your fear of failure is holding you back, know this:
You might fail, and that is okay! It’s natural, and neutral!
Some of your budding ideas will grow into enjoyable fruit.
Others will die on the vine,
Others will never get quite ripe enough to eat,
or they’ll get nabbed by squirrels
…. And in all cases, you will be okay!
Your job is simply to tend to your garden with care. Enjoy creating for it’s own sake, and enjoy AND SHARE the fruits of your labor when they arrive.
(And don’t let yourself, hide in darkness or wither away if you don’t! We need what you have to give!)
As always, be sure to give whatever gardens you're tending to in your life right now. A little bit of water, warmth, and light each day, and watch what happens, or does it?
Either way, there’s going to be lots of learning and joy in your journey.