I like to garden. When I am not working or being a mother and wife, I am gardening.

   It’s become an obsession, I admit. After spending several weeks traveling, either for work or visiting family, the lawn and garden did not look as I had expected in August. Yes, my husband was    supposedly caring for it, but gardening is not his kind of thing. He coached a team of men to victory in the local recreational softball league instead. Anyway, the past two weeks I have put on my gardening gloves, old sneakers, shorts and t-shirt almost daily. I have amassed a respectable collection of shovels and rakes and know how to use them. I need my tools to get my work done. I am still wrestling with crabgrass, and poison ivy almost got the better of me, but with Round’ Up and the aid of a professional gardener, victory will be mine!

Hopefully I will get to enjoy the fruits of my labor in the spring with a green lawn.

What does gardening have to do with life transitions and career development?
More than you think.

I have been working on my garden for the past two years, a long-term project created by the previous owners’ neglect. I have taken my time to decide what to remove, what to change and what to add. It is somewhat against my nature to wait, but avoiding impulsive decisions has allowed me to make better decisions and not waste money.

Charting a new career path or making life altering decisions also takes time. While I believe we have the right to and need to seek our happiness, hasty decisions made under duress may not prove to be those that bring us most happiness in the long term. We need to take some time for reflection, assess our financial and life situation, define what we want and need, and enlist support.

I often tell my clients that career change and job search is a marathon, not a sprint. We need endurance. The same applies to gardening. It is constant. Weeds will return, bushes must be pruned, lawns mowed and fertilized all summer. Gardening is an endurance sport.

Charting a new career path or a new way of life also demands endurance, fortitude and hope. Hope is perhaps the most important. Endurance and fortitude are built upon hope.

We need to evaluate our tools. Do any need re-sharpening or repair? Perhaps we need a couple of new ones to tackle a new project? I am a frequent customer at the local gardening superstore. What have you done lately to upgrade your tools and do you know what tools you possess  and how to use them? Perhaps some of them have multiple functionalities? These are your transferable skills.

We need inspiration to implement change. I find inspiration from other gardens, from my own creative visions and from my neighbors.
Where is your well of inspiration? What or whom inspires you? We live only once. Might as well spend our time with people who inspire us doing something that inspires us, at least some of the time.

I enlisted a gardener for help. We can’t do it all alone. We need our friends, family or perhaps a professional to support us, especially in times of change. Most jobs are filled through the grapevine or the so called hidden job market. Another reason to enlist support and reach out to others.
Finally, know when to stop and rest. At times I got so frustrated by the weeds that I was out there fighting when I really should have rested, sought a massage, read a book, or spent time with people I care about.
I paid the price with a sore back, sore knees and a bad mood.

I’ve noticed that many of us when we are out of a job or when we really hate our work or life situation become obsessed about looking for something else. It is all we think about. We apply for any job that seems remotely interesting even if it might not be what we really want. Now is a time to stop. It is time to step out on the balcony, look at the horizon and reboot. Turn off and restart.

Our mental and physical health is imperative for a happy life, and you will not shine in that job interview if you are out of shape, exhausted and down. Many of us struggle with caring for ourselves. Elevate your own well-being on your list of priorities. Or if it is not on the list, add it.

Tend your garden.