I learned to practice acceptance in my own garden as the first baby lettuces were ready to harvest in mid-April . I had looked forward to spending time in the garden with my family , but when my 4- and 8-year-old daughters asked if they could help me harvest the lettuce , I was less than enthusiastic . What if they " messed up " my carefully planted garden ? What if they broke off the stem instead of a leaf ?
Thankfully , I managed to get over myself and welcome them into the garden even with the possibility that they could break something . I realised that a " perfect garden " could wind up being a pretty lonely place , which wasn ' t my idea of perfection .
Acceptance in the garden or elsewhere doesn ' t mean giving up ,
Acceptance in the garden or elsewhere doesn ' t mean giving up , of course . We bring our best efforts to what we can control , and we let go of the rest . With gardening that means " preparing the best environment you can possibly make for your plants ," said Lamp ' l , and allowing nature to take it from there . Your garden ( like your life ) is in bigger hands than yours .
2 . Moving Beyond Perfectionism
If you ' re prone to perfectionism , you ' re probably well aware of the costs . Trying to make things perfect can lead to frustration , missed deadlines and opportunities , and strained relationships . It can also lead to not even trying to do something , with a mentality of " why bother if it can ' t be perfect ?"
OK
Given the lack of control we have , gardening can be a good antidote for perfectionism . No matter how carefully you plan and execute your garden , there are countless factors you can ' t predict — invasions by bugs , inclement weather , hungry rodents . Years ago one of our neighbours had a beautiful garden growing until a neighbouring resident sprayed weed killer on a windy day , damaging many of my neighbour ' s vegetable plants .
Gardening offers an endless supply of these kinds of " neutralizers for perfectionism ," as Lamp ' l called them . He confessed to being a perfectionist himself and knows firsthand that " pursuit of perfection is a waste of time — especially in the garden . So don ' t bother !"