Especially with the ongoing pandemic (the Coronavirus) happening in our world right now, it’s more important than ever to find ways to take care of your mental health. One of the most simple and creative ways to implement a mental health treat for yourself is through building a garden. This easy activity takes nothing more than a trip to the outdoor section of Lowes to gather plants, dirt and a large tub for your garden. The rest of it can be done right in your own backyard. It’s a fun way to keep yourself occupied and excited about staying home during this pandemic.
Gardening gives you a sense of achievement
Especially since we’re being advised to not leave our homes at all, it can be easy to feel stressed about not being very productive. One of the ways you can make yourself feel more accomplished is through starting and keeping up a little garden of your own. Watching your plants grow from small seedlings into beautiful adult plants over the course of just a few days or weeks is really rewarding and gives you a sense of responsibility for something other than yourself.
Plants have therapeutic properties
In addition to creating an outdoor garden for yourself, you can get creative and make a garden that belongs on an indoor windowsill or countertop, like this one. You can choose to put therapeutic plants in your garden, like Aloe Vera. Aloe Vera is an especially useful plant to have right now because of all the extra time we have to spend outdoors in the sun. Inside Aloe Vera leaves is a gel that can be applied to sunburns for relief. Aloe Vera can easily be found at your local Lowes or other retail stores that have a nursery (like Walmart).
A personal garden can be a Zen space
Having a specific space for meditation, yoga, reading, or just personal reflection can make it much more likely that you’ll actually do those things. In a crazily stressful time like the one we’re going through right now, it’s super important that we do some maintenance to keep a stable mindset. Having a garden complete with relaxing plants like lavender and maybe even some healing crystals can encourage you to spend more time on self-care and reflection. Creating this space can make you feel more dedicated to actually making an effort to pay attention to your mental health and the practice of mindfulness.
A garden can make you feel more connected to the Earth
Speaking from personal experience, having a multitude of plants for which I’m responsible definitely makes me feel more “at one” with nature and the Earth as a whole. This sentiment of feeling more connected to nature makes me feel more grounded and at peace. Being able to care for something so intricate and uniquely fragile makes me feel really important in the grand scheme of things and helps me understand that the beautiful complexity of nature is something I can easily take part in. I think having a garden of your own is a great step towards promoting inner peace.
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