Start small

I tend to over think things.  Blame my gender, my personality, a fear of making mistakes--any or all of the above.  I get easily overwhelmed by possibilities and what ifs.  Today's post is a reminder for myself and anyone else who finds themselves stuck in their head all too often.  

I first heard the following advice at the National Women's Bicycling Summit in early March, but a quick Google search reveals that it is well known and oft repeated.  The advice is this:

Just start.

So simple, yet so hard to do sometimes.  There are a few reasons I find those two words so useful.  One is regardless of whether I tackle something for 5 minutes or complete the task in one fell swoop, progress is made and things start to feel a bit more manageable.  Another is that sometimes just starting is all that's needed to finish.  Ideally, every looming task would turn out like my garden.  

Since winter took so long to give way to spring, I felt behind before I even got started.  I did a little research (browsing a gardening book I picked up last year, reading the back of seed packets) and discovered that for most of the things I wanted to grow I still had time to make it happen.  

tiny spring lettuces

After that, there was the somewhat laborious task of weeding out the raised bed in the backyard.  I kept putting it off, but finally we got some nice warm weather, and I couldn't justify being indoors any longer.  I told myself I would clear one of the four corners, and work through the rest over the course of a week.  However, once I got started I decided to power through to the end.  I was already dirty, found ripping out the crab grass to be very therapeutic, and really liked seeing a noticeable difference after all of my hard work!

zucchini sprout

I got a few things planted; it poured rain for a few days and after a bit of waiting, the plants are starting to emerge.

oregano

Am I finished with my garden?  Certainly not.  There are already weeds coming back in, the soil probably needs more organic matter and the starter plants I bought almost a month ago are still sitting in their flimsy plastic pots that blow over in a strong wind.  Nonetheless, my garden is a wonderful visual reminder of the power just starting something can have.