Jun 11, 2018

Recognizing Your Limits

by Nichole Carver, Your Magical Marketing Millennial

You ever take on those projects you think are small, but later realize they really aren't small - they're kinda of massive? Like...MASSIVE? That happened to me this spring. We bought a house back at the end of November that needed some yard work. I thought originally that the yard could wait a year. See, I generally keep my parents garden for them each year, and that would be especially important this year because my dad was recently diagnosed with Lymphoma. The work I do for them benefits my entire family, and this year that would count more than ever.

So how did I end up taking on the massive project of my own yard as well? That wasn't the plan! Yet fast forward a couple of months and I've taken a 300 lb sod cutter to my grass, built five 4'x4' garden boxes in my yard, and a trellis to espalier an apple and a pear tree. I've moved yards and yards of sod and numerous wheelbarrows of dirt, with some other materials for hugelkulture. This was all on top of planting my parents garden, going to school full time, working full time, and taking care of my kids, quail, and puppy. Was I insane? YES! Should I have recognized my boundaries and that whole not having a time-turner thing? YES!

Needless to say, I reached a point of exhaustion and depletion. I have a strong, strong tendency to be overly-ambitious (can you tell?). Add that to a completionist, perfectionist mentality and it's a cocktail of never-ending over-commitment. Because, you see, this is just ONE example of the ridiculous standards I try to hold myself to. I'm sure some of you can relate.

I was hitting a breaking point is when my local angels showed up - friends, neighbors, and family. Did I ask for help? No. I was just planning on powering through it all at some point. That's my personality tendency. Thank goodness for those who recognized I desperately needed some assistance and took the initiative to provide it. Should I have asked for help? Abso-freaking-lutely. I let my own ego get in the way of humility. In retrospect - I could have gotten a lot more done had I just been patient enough to take things one step at a time, ask for help along the way, and stuck to my original plan.

In short, the lesson learned from this is: it's more than OKAY to have limitations. It's OKAY to ask for help. It's OKAY to not tackle projects all at once. It's OKAY to include others in your projects. And it's better to live in the moment than to inundate yourself with excessive responsibility. It might be that a little bit of patience goes a really long way. Thanks to all those angels out there for saving my sanity.