When I was a child, my rural-Arkansas-born parents gave me and my siblings the gift of experiencing the world!  My dad was in the Air Force and we traveled, moving every 2-3 years, sometimes to foreign countries.  It all seemed normal to me then, but looking back, I realize how incredible it was.  My parents could have stayed behind in the comfort of the land that they knew and amongst the people who were like them.  But they chose the adventure, and for that, I’m so thankful.

Those lessons modeled to me by my parents opened my eyes to new gardening adventures. 

A few years back, my gardening style had become stale.  I was stuck in a rut, doing only what I knew how to do.  The combination of pain and unsuccessful vegetable and flower gardening seasons where plants languished in the harsh Texas climate, had me ready to throw in the trowel.

But my parents raised me to seek adventure.

My needs had changed, and my old ways of gardening weren’t suitable anymore.  I immersed myself in Youtube videos about permaculture and discovered new methods.  I learned about wildscaping and using native and adapted plants for low-maintenance beauty that attracts butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds.

One of the surprising things that helped me see new perspectives was gardening with younger, inexperienced people.  My kids have reached the age where they have their own places and gardens.  One of the first vegetables my daughter planted was edamame.  Edamame?  Why did she plant that?  I’d never heard of anyone growing edamame!  She planted it because she loves to eat it – very logical.  But my old stuck-in-a-rut gardening brain questioned whether it was a good plant for a home gardener.  Turned out it was great!  Her naivete had her willing to try – and fail. And because of that she found a crop that grows beautifully despite the harsh Texas conditions.

A neighbor who is younger than me and new to gardening also inspired me.  With young children to tend to, her garden isn’t always her priority.  Her timing is a little off compared to my norm of when you should plant things.  But guess what? Her vegetables planted at different times than mine flourished while mine withered!

We can learn from those who don’t know “better”.  Don’t be afraid to try new things and fail.

I often reproduce plants from cuttings.  I like to give them to others for their gardens.  People ask me “How do you do that?  I don’t have a green thumb like you do.”

But it’s not a green thumb, it’s a lot of failures.  I have a roll around shelf that I use as a “nursery” and continually attempt cuttings.  A lot of them fail.  But people don’t see all the fails when I hand them a healthy plant to take home.  They only see the success.  It’s a matter of trying and trying again. And when a plant fails, I don’t judge myself as a bad gardener.  Each fail is just another rung on the ladder to success.  The sooner I get through all the fails, the sooner I have success.

That advice goes for your plant gardens and the garden of your body.  Read, explore, and try things that are in your control when it comes to your pain.  It doesn’t matter if the “experts” think it shouldn’t work – it only matters if it works.  And if it doesn’t, take notes and tweak your plan until it does work. 

It takes lots of fails to get a good plant.  And when you first start trying to manage your chronic pain, it will take a lot of fails to find the right plan for you.  And the fails will continue until you have success. And it will all be worthwhile once you succeed.

If you’d like to learn more about pain and natural remedies that will bring you relief, download my free ebook, The Truth of Your Pain, here!