The Gardener's Guide to Mental Health.

Let’s face it: life can be crazy. It can get so fast paced that you often question the reasons why you’re on this merry-go-round in the first place. It seemed, to me at least, that everyone has this perfect life. Instagram posts of guys with ripped muscles or in stunning locations, all designed to show firstly how perfect their lives are and secondly creating Insta-Validation supposedly making their lives feel more complete while giving them an insta-hit of Dopamine. Now please don’t misunderstand me, I’m not saying everyone is like this. Yes, there are people on Instagram who are proud of their achievements and that’s superb but for everyone of those, there are an abundance seeking approval through your likes to help them navigate their emotional journey and make their lives seem less mundane.

We are, as a society, so concerned with the self that I wonder if we've gotten very lost. The number of cases of anxiety and depression I deal with increase with every year. Yet we continue to jump on the social media bandwagon hoping for an inspirational quote “Believe in yourself and you can achieve your dreams” or to see an example of what we think we should be, look like, or have. The result is a generation of men and women who constantly feel we are under-achieving, unfulfilling our “true potential”, becoming more miserable with every like, with every swipe. Navigating the past few years, for myself has been one of the hardest times in my life. Losing a parent, seeing friends die and being diagnosed with HIV has been a lot to understand and come to terms with. Having never experienced anxiety or majorly depressive symptoms was also a new one for me. Learning to navigate and to challenge pre-existing beliefs, to implement positive change has been at the forefront of my journey and I'm hopefully helping others do the same.

Developing my awareness and coping strategies, and then implementing them has allowed me to process and learn more about myself, which brings me onto my green fingers. For those of you who know me, you’ll have noticed I seem to be keen on gardening. Now believe me …I’m not a gardener in that I possess the skills of an Alan Titchmarch-Charlie Dimmock hybrid, but I have found gardening to be a great tool in combating the effects of loneliness, depression, and anxiety. Gardening's key feature is it removes the immediate focus on the self, allowing your energies to be used more productively in creating something beautiful outside of yourself. I view the garden as an opportunity to learn new skills by trial and error, to create a sanctuary, and to observe how some elements are outside of our conscious control, so I have a place to be peaceful and creative and to also spend time with friends.

For many, your environment is key to positive mental health. Create the right conditions and we experience an awareness of love, joy, and compassion; we connect and thrive. However, allowing our thought process to focus on the negativity will then allow the darkness to prevail. Gardening is very much like this. Use the right compost and your flowers or trees will thrive, get it wrong and they shrivel to nothing more than a weed, leaving you with an empty bed and a lot of ho’ing. Like gardening, mental health is a process. Now many of you may be thinking, "Well what if I don’t have a garden space to do this in?" Granted I have a small garden that I can work in, but even if you only have a window box or a balcony, you can still create and design a wonderful area, to nurture and create in. Gandhi said, "you must be the change you wish to see in the world." So today, perhaps consider your social footprint, the rationale for posting on Instagram, and above all learn to love the sound of your feet walking away from things that doesn't bring you ultimate joy.

Roses

Sunflowers

Foxglove

Yellow Rose

Creating a sanctuary enables me to take the moments I need to enjoy the space.

Memorial

Creating an area in memory of my father with a Prunus Kanzan (Cherry Blossom Tree)