I never really took the time to think about that cycle but as I sit back and reflect over the last few years I can see how our lives can mirror the same process – if we let it. A basic google search and you’ll learn that the stages in successful farming are: Plowing, Cultivating, watering and feeding, harvesting the crop, storing it and then doing something with it -usually providing life of some kind to people.
So, let’s talk about these stages and how they look in our lives – and I’ll use my life as an example.
Plowing – this is the stage where you level the ground. I see this as the time in your life where you make the decision to do something different, break out of your cycle and get your life going in the direction you want. So, if you aren’t happy with something – whether it be a current relationship (romantic or otherwise), your health, your job, anything in life really – this is the stage where you make a decision to level the ground. For me, that meant addressing my abuser and getting out of the relationship I was in. I literally was forced into leveling the ground of my life when other things like being laid off because my company went bankrupt, right after my separation. It was like I was leveled right now so that I could start building from the ground up. It means weeding out all the crap, getting rid of the junk, cleaning house, etc.
Cultivating – now that you’ve leveled out that field, now it’s time to start cultivating. What does that mean? Well it means to prepare and use (land, or rather your life) for crops or gardening, or another definition is to develop. This is the time where you start preparing your life for what you want to see come into it. For me this looked like lots of reading, journaling, dealing with things as they came up and addressing them rather than shoving them back down.
Planting – this is where you start putting things into your garden of life. For me this looked like building my life all over again and that started with the inside. I hated myself, I didn’t see anything good or beautiful and had no self-confidence. So, I spent significant time speaking out positive affirmations – I am beautiful, I am strong, I am compassionate, and so on. I started planting more seeds by continuing to read and journal and started moving forward. I would say that at this stage was one where I could see hope – I could see that the things I was doing was going to bring about fruit but at first they seemed so small, just like seeds, but I kept planting. This was also a stage where a mind and heart shift occurred. I could see that I was now taking control of my emotions and the bad stuff that happened and doing something about it to turn it into something good and I was no longer living as a victim of my circumstances.
Watering and Feeding – during this time you continue to nurture what you’ve planted. Some people can get stuck in the last stage and keep planting but not take the time to water and feed or worse, they can go backwards and pull out what they just planted, just like a pesky bunny in your garden. It is important to keep watering and keep feeding what you have planted. This stage is crucial for seeing a healthy harvest. This stage can also be a lot of work, it can be lonely and it can be hard. It requires putting up healthy boundaries as you go as well.
I would say that this time last year I almost stopped watering and feeding the growth that I was already seeing. Things were coming up in my heart and I wasn’t dealing with them right away and so I slipped backwards a bit. But I made a commitment to not go backwards. In the last several months I have made a very big effort to keep watering and feeding. For me this meant reading more again – I use my cardio time at the gym to read so right now I’m reading a book every week or every 2. I am journaling more again and writing more (blogging). I also opened up with a close friend about a part of my heart I was choosing to not deal with – and that was the sexual abuse I suffered at the hands of my ex-husband. I thought that just because I said it happened meant it was dealt with, but now I’m seeing how I actually have to process and deal with it and how if I don’t, it will continue to affect me and my relationships – beyond romantic ones.
One of the biggest things I’ve learned the last few weeks is that the things that happen to us in life can affect our daily lives, how we operate in relationships with friends, co-workers, romantic relationships, family members and so on. And because of that (and many other reasons), it’s so important to address the past so that we live healthy lives and can function and operate in healthy relationships for our sake as well as those we are in relationship with. During this watering and feeding stage, you can see life spring forth and you can see how the time you’ve taken for the other stages is making things grow, it’s an encouraging stage.
Harvesting the crop – This is like the best part of the stages, second best. This is when you now have something that has come out of all that work you just put in! It’s rewarding! But, it’s not possible without the rest of the process. If you put in half effort, you have half a crop, or your crop isn’t of great quality so it’s important to put your all into the process, not just the harvesting because if you don’t, you won’t have much to harvest.
Some life examples for me would be, I have put in the work to heal the parts of my heart that are broken…I now love who I am, I live at peace, I don’t live in fear of what might happen tomorrow (or later today), I am content, I am happy and I love life. My relationships are healthier, I’m moving forward in a direction I want rather than being over taken by a vicious un-healthy cycle and all the ‘bad things’ that keep happening. Another place I’m seeing harvest is in the area of my body. A year and a half ago I was in so much pain from my car accident, I was a size 22, I was tired all the time, I love me but my body was suffering. Today, my pain levels are way better and slowly getting there, I am a size 14, I have tones of energy, I sleep like a rock, my mind is clear and I feel the best I’ve felt in my life! My body is also able to keep up with all the exciting things I have going on in my life – so the work in the process that I’ve put in when it comes to my insides and my outsides are in direct correlation to each other – both needed to be in a good place to be doing the things I’m doing now – that’s part of my harvest.
Storage – Now this is where things get really exciting. Seeing a harvest is super rewarding. Receiving messages from women weekly that you have somehow inspired them to make a change in their life, or to see beauty in themselves or give them hope – there is no price tag on that. As I continue to grow and harvest, I store things up but it’s not the storage part that’s exciting, it’s what you do with the stuff in storage. You can choose to keep all your growth to yourself….but the best part is being able to share it with others. Just like wheat or corn is stored up to ship out and give life to the people who consume it, what we give to other people can bring life to them. It can encourage someone, it can bring light to dark places in their life and it can get someone on their own journey to start the same cycle and that really is the gift that keeps on giving and it feeds more than just use – it’s purpose is greater than just you.
My journey wouldn’t be near as rewarding if I just kept it all to myself. My journey holds value for me but if I can share with all of you how to get to a place of wholeness, it makes all the crappy stuff I’ve been through worth it. Some people say to me – I’m sorry you went through so much – I wish you didn’t go through it and I once thought that but let’s be honest….I can’t change what happened but I can change how I let it affect me. The same thing goes for you.
Today, let this be a challenge to you to make a choice for change for you. It can be scary at first. I requires work. It takes effort, but it is worth every ounce of it!!!!!
Now, of course this blog wouldn’t be complete without some pictures and my inspiration for this post….soooo here I am photographed by Stefanie Augusteijn (SassyPlus) wearing Torrid and on a tractor none the less. I’ve been trying to show you how you can dress different pieces when you purchase a few. One shirt can have may different looks, so this is the second look you’ve seen with this top and I have 1 more coming for you next week.
I’ve included the links below the pictures if you want to get these looks
Stay Beautiful,
Curvy Skinny Jean – Dark Wash
Boots from Sirens
Styled with a leopard belt I had in my closet
I love how you developed on the farming theme and how it applies to personal growth. Yay Sarah!!