The Tired Gardener

Healing Through Growing

Healing Through Growing Blog



  • Mango
  • Mango stone
  • Avocado

Baby Steps Towards Recovery

Should I be resting or moving?  Learning how to take baby steps and manage frustration is a huge challenge in the early stages of recovery or after a relapse.  Sowing a few seeds is a manageable activity that gives a sense of achievement and anticipation.

  • Winter blue: photo courtesy of Conor McGrath
  • Winter blue too
  • My Secret Garden in January

The Lockdown Blues

For some, lockdown means isolation and loneliness, for others the relentlessness of living in close quarters with other people.  Thank God for my garden and the freedom it gives me to choose between isolation and companionship.

A Corsage of Runner Beans

There's a difference between learning about recovery and understanding.  Sometimes it takes a set-back to help the penny drop and grasp what being guided by your body really means.

  • Summer clouds
  • Red Kite, courtesy of Thomas Kraft  (ThKraft) / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)
  • Fennel and runner bean flowers

Cocooned

Every journey to recovery has its setbacks, unbearable times of slipping backwards when it's hard to keep faith and hope alive.

  • Apple blossom

Resilience

In uncertain times a garden can be a source of food security as well as emotional well-being.

  • Community Clear-Up
  • Wonderful solitude.
  • On the edge of the village.

Between Isolation and Community

The coronavirus has turned life upside down and created strange contrasts between physical isolation and a widespread resurgence of the need for community.  It has given me much food for thought on my own tightrope journey back to a healthy balance between self-care and care for others.

  • Sunflower seedlings emerging.
  • Snowdrops, crocuses and hellebores at the foot of my plum tree.
  • Tête-à-tête narcissi

Straining at the Leash

The hardest gardening task in March is to hold back. The hardest part of recovery is to acknowledge that you are not quite there yet, but take heart, both spring and a return to full health are on the horizon.

  • Image from Rapidweaver Unsplash.
  • Image from Rapidweaver Unsplash.
  • Image from Rapidweaver Unsplash.

On the Other Hand

Addressing pain and loss of function in my hands, while the rest of my body recovers, has given me pause for thought and a new perspective on my approach to recovery


My illness has meant that I have had to give up my work and so I am now looking to find a new career through my writing. If you have enjoyed this page and would like to encourage me to produce more, click the coffee cup below to make a small donation; no strings, no fuss, just a little, 'Thanks, keep it up.'


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