Friday, February 29, 2008

A "Seedy" Stress Reliever

Since those frightening moments of Monday morning I've found that my mind has been in high gear as I try to figure out how this happened and what I need to do to make it better. I have to "watch" for suspicious symptoms all day and at night too. Which means my daughter has her own "camp" cot set up in our bedroom. Needless to say, I'm not sleeping well and neither is she. Stress has hit "Garden Girl" and Mom quite hard.

But I know I'm not the only one who deals with stress on a daily basis. Some very healthy people head straight for the gym to work(out) their stress away. Some very intellectual people head straight for a book to read their stress away. Some very talkative people keep dialing phone numbers until they've talked their stress away. But Gardeners are not normal people. What others feel are more household chores gardeners relish as the best type of stress reliever. Why?

  1. Sunlight. The news is constantly reporting both the benefits and the dangers of being in the sun. However, nothing feels better than feeling the sun warm your skin as you tidy a garden bed filled with the fragrant blooms.

  2. Sense of Accomplishment. One of the best stress relievers is feeling as though you've accomplished something. Creating a beautiful garden bed where once there was nothing is an excellent way to do just that.

  3. Connect with Nature. As we live our normal lives with cell phones, computers, automatic doors that don't seem to open for us we all encounter stress. Nature provides us the opportunity to disconnect from the world and tune into a quieter part of ourselves and our environment.

  4. Exercise. Only someone who has never weeded flower beds for hours on end believes that gardening is easy. Lifting, bending, stretching, digging, planting, raking. All of these vigorous activities get the blood pumping and can give the same benefits to a stressed out gardener as going to an "actual" gym. And the garden smells a lot better!

So, my dear "Garden Girl" daughter and I are planning to de-stress ourselves by planting our seeds together first thing Saturday morning. Last Sunday I received a call from my local Ace Hardware store. This was unusual but a happy surprise. The manager called to say that they were holding a one day only sale and were randomly contacting some of their Ace Rewards Members. We had nothing urgent planned for our Sunday so we gathered the tribe and went into town. Upon entering I realized that the store was prepping for spring! And there among their goodies were seeds...marked for the one day only sale...10 for $1.00! So instead of hemming and hawing over which I could afford I let my two girls pick out the pretty ones. Apparently we're going to have a lot of pink and purple flowers in our whiskey barrels this year. They chose:

They had so much fun...and I got a real bargain on my annuals. What could be better? Thanks Ace, and our wonderful manager who decided upon entering the store to have the one day sale!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

The best "de-stressor" I'm aware of. I hope this episode brings you beautiful flowers come summer!
Brenda

Robin's Nesting Place said...

How nice that they called to let you know. Wow, that is service! We have a new Ace here in town, I haven't been yet. I'll have to rectify that.

I planted my seeds yesterday and had fun playing in the dirt!

lilymarlene said...

Since experiencing the almost euphoric state that I fall into when gardening I am convinced that it is something to do with getting ones hands in the soil.
And then, as commentor number 1 said, you also get the flowers later...real destressors.

Kylee Baumle said...

Really great post and of course, a wonderful way to spend the day! :-)

CanadianGardenJoy said...

Yes !
Gardening is like nothing else .. I can't explain it either ..
I have a few medical conditions that melt away in that time I can really concentrate.. center myself ? with the garden .. it just takes right over .. that garden high ?
I'm glad that you and garden daughter can de-stress with this happiness .. and it is happiness when you find great things like these seeds and plans you can make.
Enjoy the time together with this and take care !
Joy

The Diva said...

This is a great post on stress relievers. What a great sale you happened upon. Hang in there. Enjoy your seed planting with your girls~~Dee

Spinneretta said...

I completely agree!
There is something about the fresh air (which currently smells spinglike!!) and grubbing in the dirt :)

I am glad you two have something planned to de-stress you both!

Anonymous said...

You are so right! I love the work and the workers. Gardeners are the best. They are mostly nuturing and kind. It's a special world to belong to.

Tina said...

Wow, that is awesome! I haunt the local sale ads for seed sales, but I'd faint to the floor if a store actually called to tell me about one! lol.
Ooo, when you get the seeds sown, make sure you post about it.
:)
And if you have a sec (I know you're time crunched at the mo) drop by my 'seed sowing weekend' post and let me know you posted so I can be all nosey-like. lol.