Today I was out and about in my backyard. Not camping or half way around the country. Just outside. Thinking. Tending to my neglected garden. Pulling overgrown grass out of flower beds. Ripping ivy out from where it was suffocating garden rocks. It was like something came over me and I needed to get my hands in the earth. Overgrown weeds and grass beds that had long been neglected and not tended to became instruments of therapy and rejuvenation. I have been so incredibly stressed these last nine months, probably the most stressed I have ever been in my life. Personal angsts have turned me into someone I barely recognise some days. But today it felt good getting back to nature.
This dead tree trunk is an eyesore but around it a vibrant orange lantern tree spreads it’s leaves and reminds me that beyond the ordinary and difficult moments in life there is colour and beauty. And hope.
The ivy that I ripped out was tough and unyielding as though it had a life of its own. I have a long way to go. But I know with perseverence I will be able to untangle its roots and move forward.
There are so many signs around me of things withering. This plant on my decking has finished flowering and today I plucked many of its brown petals off. In a few months new flowers will bloom but right now it looks drab. But then I look out my backyard and I see life and colour all around me. I hear magpies chortling and kookaburras laughing and I remind myself of how lucky I am to be in this place at this time.
It gives me hope. I look up at the sky and I see all the infinite possibilities of tomorrow … if I just keep my eyes open. It’s so easy to lose sight of the big picture, so tempting to succumb to the grey clouds, but when I’m outside,in the midst of nature, I’m reminded that life continues, no matter what. And it’s up to me how I respond.
Out an' About 