I’ve had a disheartening week.
My garden… my pride and joy… has been attacked by squash vine borers. I am a novice gardener, and I wasn’t aware that they even existed until I noticed that my gorgeous spaghetti squash plant, which I had grown from seed and carefully nurtured, was looking somewhat brown and wilted in spots. As I began to trim off the dead stems and leaves, I started seeing little white seed-shaped baddies crawling everywhere. The plant was pregnant with disease… rotting to its very core. That next day, my zucchini plant and my baby pumpkin plant, both showing so much promise last weekend, were destroyed as well.
I have to admit, I was quite hard on myself in the wake of this episode. What did I do wrong? The ground was fertile and mulched to protect the roots from dehydration and heat… I had practiced companion planting to help deter pests… why didn’t I research the perils of growing squash before growing these babies in my greenhouse and releasing them into “the wild”? It was all my fault! I should have known how to protect them from this!
It was only later that I discovered where I went wrong. I had planted them too late in the year. In my overzealous effort to plant as many things as possible, I did not take into consideration the fact that pests flourish in seasonal cycles, just like plants. Borers start munching away at green goodies in late spring to late summer. If I had put my squash plants out earlier, I would have been able to harvest them earlier and greatly reduced my chances of encountering this mess.
Now that I know where I went wrong, I can look at this experience from a different angle. Rather than telling myself that I’m a failure, I can confidently say that I’ve discovered new information that will help me in the future. This mindset can apply to any aspect of my life… I can always do a little research, educate myself, ask questions and experiment. If I fail, at least I did my due diligence, and I have collected more knowledge for the future. Life is all about learning and growing, and we can’t let the fear of failure hold us back, nor can we let it dictate how we feel about ourselves.
Have you considered the value of replacing negative self talk with a growth mindset when faced with adversity or mistakes you have made?
