Enjoying the process

Good Morning, my friends! My thoughts for the past 24 hours have been focused on the small garden pond I’m planning on adding to my flower garden this year. Many of you know that I put in several little perennial gardens last summer when some friends moved out of state and gave me a lot of plants and shrubs from their yard. It was a lot of hard work, but I loved it, not only because I love flowers and plants, but because I COULD do the work for the first time in many years. The joy of being able to do things again that my obesity and disability prevented me from doing is certainly great motivation to keep on track. As much as I love my little flower beds, I tend to be one that is always looking for ways to make things better so I decided this year that I wanted to add a small pond to the landscape.

I readily admit that I know absolutely nothing about putting in a pond. In fact, I know very little about gardening in general, but like most things in my life, it’s a work in progress and an opportunity to learn something new.  I’ve been doing a bit of reading on the inter­net about ponds, but a “little knowledge” is is somewhat dangerous because I tend to just go full steam ahead with things and learn from my mistakes along the way. Just like I did…and continue to do… with most areas of my personal journey.  Fortunately, we get chances to learn; grow; redo; start over; learn more….etc. on a daily basis.

A friend picked up a pre-formed 30 gallon (see I told you it was a SMALL pond) pond form and I can’t wait to get out of work tonight to start digging the hole. Then comes the trial and error part of adjusting the fountain pump, arranging rocks around it, deciding if I want pond plants and then shopping for them.  It will definitely be a process to get it set-up and very likely, I’ll change my mind about a dozen times before getting it the way I want it.

I also have decided AGAIN to try to grow vegetables. Many years ago I had a small garden and it did fairly well, but because I live in a wooded area, I am constantly trying to keep deer and other animals from eating the plants. Most of the time I get all excited about the vegetable garden, only to be disappointed with my summer-long efforts to nurture and care for them end up to be in vain when a hungry deer take a bite out of every single tomato on the vine or each of the squash. Even though I don’t often get the results I want, I have fun “thinking and hoping and trying” and sometimes I get rewarded with a single tomato or cucumber! ­­­

Again…a reminder of our daily journey. Sometimes we work so hard to stay on track and take great care to count our calories and increase our activity, but yet, the pay-off isn’t exactly what we hoped and we end up disappointed that our progress is slower than expected….or worse, we plateau for weeks at a time. The important thing to remember is to ENJOY THE PROCESS; enjoy the journey.  There is no doubt that I am going to make many mistakes in the installation of this little pond. Some of the plants may die; the raccoons and other wildlife might eat my fish; the water may get icky; I may even have to relocate the entire thing, perhaps more than once. But, as frustrating as it might be, I am so excited about it and will have fun along the way. Plus, the satisfaction and enjoyment when I get it “just right” will be incredibly edifying.  Just like our journey.  So many times along the way we have to rethink our plan; mix things up and adjust our calories; change up our exercise routine, maybe adding weights or increasing resistance when things slow down or we don’t get the results we want.  But…we are excited, hopeful, and anticipate great satisfaction and enjoyment when we reach our goal. Like my pond will require; it takes A LOT of work to change one’s life…but as long as we “ENJOY THE PROCESS” and are aware that life is often trial-and-error and a work in progress, we will be just fine.  I won’t get discouraged and abandon my hope of having a little garden pond when things don’t go as expected right away. Don’t you get discouraged and give up either if you face a set-back; have a bad day; or give into temptation. WE ARE ALL A WORK IN PROGRESS!  But….keep at it; the results will be beyond your wildest dreams!

Have a wonderful Wednesday!!!!