The repercussions of overdoing it this Spring have trickled down well into Summer.
This Spring, the busiest time of year for my gardening business, I also bushwhacked and established a new 3000 sq ft garden and fenced it off, finished the outdoor aviary, built a greenhouse, installed two grape arbors, raised 40 baby birds for release. I certainly didn’t get any peaceful, meditative bonding with nature done! This Summer, my vigilance down and in the habit of over-working, I developed heat exhaustion and finally crumpled under early disseminated Lyme disease. That stopped me cold (actually feverish) for two weeks.
I’m feeling somewhat better now, but I’ve learned a few lessons.
- Raising baby birds is stressful and I need to say, ‘no’ to the wildlife center when I am at capacity.
- I’m really glad establishing the garden is done, but doing so much all at once was a prime example of my autistic enthusiasm blinding me to the scale of a task.
- Lyme disease is nothing to flirt with.
- Takes a while to recover from burnout.
- Stagger plantings so everything doesn’t need harvesting and processing all at once.
- And a lesson that I am prone to forgetting: romanticizing Nature denies the recognition of its power, its ruthlessness, and its relentless internal pressures. By throwing myself so completely into these projects that attempt to manage Nature (which were far from epic, but much more than I could handle), I broke. Not only did I become broken physically, but functionally: leaving many things that I care about in neglect. My dogs haven’t had such a playful companion. The resident birds haven’t had a visitor in their aviary and varied treats, and I have neither listened to nor played music. The blog and my monasticism have been set aside; although much of my efforts have been in support of my monastic goals, they have lacked the mindful joy with the process.
It will take some focus and discipline to get back in to the routine, but that’s my goal. Thanks for checking in!