How Does Your - Stop and smell the vegetables

It has taken me until today to fully accept and appreciate my garden for exactly what it is. You see, I have spent a significant amount of time out back burning weeds on the patio and because it’s a longer process than I originally thought it would be I have been granted a lot of time to think. That’s not usually a good thing for someone like me, a chronic over-thinker, but it worked out this time. Hear me out. I have spent about four hours, off and on, burning the weeds growing in between the patio pavers which I assumed would take me about 20 minutes in total. You know what they say about people who assume, and I definitely fit the bill this time. I thought that I would torch each weed for about two seconds before it would burst into flames and vanish eternally (or for at least a week). I quickly discovered this would not be the case, and while I was having fun torturing my enemies it was taking forever. I stood there, burning each weed for what felt like an eternity before it would finally catch fire. I was so annoyed with everything; with the torch, which I thought should be hotter; with the weeds, which were so thick and rampant that I thought I’d never get through them all; the weather for basically turning Taylor County into a moist, humid jungle; and mostly, with myself, for my unrealistic expectations and my disappoint-ment. That last one is the least surprising. I finally found a method that worked for me. I would hit each weed for a couple of seconds and move on to the next, following the cracks in the pavers until I completed a large section. The next day, I would come back and do it again. The first round dried the weeds out, and the second eliminated most of the rest. A few particularly fertile sections needed a third round, but not many. Burning the weeds in stages, rather than all at once, cut a considerable amount of time out of the equation even though I wasn’t getting that instant gratification I was looking for. But I still spent hours trying to kill each weed at one time before I finally accepted my fate and pivoted. I was so determined to get rid of them exactly the way I planned in my head that I stood in my own way for hours, beating myself up and wasting my own time. Why did I do that? Why did I get so stubborn that I refused to accept my situation, which then made it impossible for me to come up with a new plan? The most ridiculous part is that this entire saga existed only in my own head. I literally had the power to save myself time, physical energy and mental stress at any moment, and I chose not to. That’s right, I made an active choice to stay stuck in my pattern and make myself mad. Over weeds. Let that sink in. Mandee Ellis is a reporter at The Star News. Contact her at Mandee@centralwinews.com.