What I am reflecting?
This week, I noticed something about myself.
Almost every conversation I have with my friends sounds the same. What did I learn today. How did I grow today. Did I hit the goals I set this morning. At the end of the day, I sit down and review what I accomplished.
And at night, I run my little ritual. Three things I am grateful for. Three things I could improve. One thing I can change. The goal is always the same. To become better and better.
A friend listened to all of this. She reflected it back to me and said it is a good thing, this eagerness to learn. Being eager to grow is a good thing to be.
Then she asked me one quiet question. Do you feel stressed by it?
I let it sit for a while. I internalized it.
And the honest answer is yes. Sometimes I do feel stressed. I feel out of breath. Because when I look back at everything I have achieved, a worry creeps in. Will I be able to perform as well as I did before? What do I need to do to become a better person tomorrow, or at least keep moving at the pace I am moving now?
She shared an analogy with me. In farming, you plant your seeds. You water them. You let them grow. When they are ready, you harvest the fruit, and then you plant the seeds again. Next season, you grow, you harvest, you plant. Again and again.
That made me ask myself a hard question. Have I been so focused on growing and harvesting that I forgot to take care of the soil?
Because that is what happens. As time goes by, soil that is only ever planted and harvested becomes depleted. It dries out. It loses its nutrients. And no matter how good the seeds are, nothing grows well in tired soil.
The reason I’m sharing this is because growth and learning are good. I will never stop loving them. But there has to be a balance.
I need to reward myself by doing nothing sometimes. To give myself back the nutrients I have been spending. To simply enjoy life as it is, and to stay hopeful and faithful that what is coming to me is something I desire, or perhaps something even better than I expected.
So whatever you are working on right now, whatever you are growing and harvesting, remember to take care of the soil too.
I hope this resonates. Take care of your soil, and it may carry you much farther and much better than you ever hoped for.
Quote I’m pondering
“Stop being afraid of what could go wrong, and start being excited about what could go right.” – Tony Robbins
Affirmation I used
I nourish my mind and body today, and I grow stronger for it.