Ylanite Koppens

We All Grow At Our Own Pace—Just Be Sure To Plant The Seeds

All plants grow at their own time. You may look at a beautiful garden and think to yourself how beautiful and glamorous it looks, but it’s easy to forget that everything that was planted took time and effort to get to where it is now. This happens a lot in our lives, especially in the age of social media when we are only shown the beauty and simplicity of someone’s success or highlights. Don’t let the fruit deceive you of the seed it once was.

With anything in life, you have to plant the right seeds in your journey to get you to your destination. Those seeds usually tend to start in your mind. We can’t expect us to bloom overnight, but we can create the conditions for us to grow and prosper. You can do this by changing the dialogue you have with yourself. Instead of worrying about where you should be, try to talk kindly and patiently with yourself about where you are now. The moment you are in right now is one that will never be repeated, so take it in, indulge in it, and start looking at it differently. How can you look at this very moment with a new lens? The future and the past are where they need to be, so ask yourself, are you here? Breathe it in; one seed at a time can make all the difference. A flower doesn’t look at another flower and wonder why it looks the way it does, it simply grows. Have joy in your nurture. Get excited about the little things. Progress is worthy of being celebrated. The foundation you set for yourself first has to start in a belief system to then be transported to behavior. Creating hopeful and positive dialogue in the brain allows you to explore the best versions of yourself in any scenario life has to throw at you.

This isn’t to say that once you create a loving dialogue that weeds won’t come to poison your garden. Weeds will take root in your soil and it will be normal and actually expected. Weeds are a part of nature; you can’t have plants without them, just like you can’t have a perfect mind or a perfect life. Life isn’t meant to be lived perfectly; it’s meant to be lived. The good, the bad, the ugly, the messy, and the weeds will always be there, but you will learn how to live among them. Your behavior will soon start to match your beliefs. So when you have a negative thought, your belief in self-love talk will pursue a self-loving action. You have the power to choose what you will water. There will be rain and there will be shine, so stand tall and endure because these are the moments that create your core.

Tend to your mind and the garden will follow.

Watch what seeds have fallen into your head and dig out the ones that don’t need to be there.

Never compare your progress to someone’s outcome—every flower grows different.

You will reap what you sow, so harvest wisely.