Oh Time, Where Art Thou!

When you hear the word “February”, the first thing that may come to mind is “Cold”. Indeed, the coldest days of the year often come in February. But if you live in the South, February means Spring is just around the corner! Spring might be my favorite time of year, running a close second with Fall, but where Fall offers a much-needed break from the miserable sweltering heat of Dog Days, Spring is a time of new beginnings. It’s when the world starts to wake up after sleeping for several months. Soon the flowers will be blooming and the Honeybees will be hard at work! In fact, I have already seen some blooms on a Pear Tree!

But with this pending awaking comes the first whispers from that little voice saying, you’re not ready. My mind starts to race thinking of all those projects that I was supposed to do this winter when I had “the time”. The new irrigation system for the garden. The raised beds I was going to build. The rebuild of the chicken coop. The fence that needed reworking. The pruning that is now past due!

Now some people don’t struggle with this. I envy people that can just go with the flow and what gets done, gets done and if it doesn’t, they still sleep good at night. Me, I am awake at 4am devising a plan in my head on how I am going to layout the rows this year, or what crops I am going to plant or if my compost is going to be ready in time for the tomato plants. It’s just the way I am wired.

Here is the conclusion I came to a few years back; while it sometimes feels like a curse, and come bedtime I am usually exhausted, I wouldn’t change it if I could. You know why? Simply put, I love it. I love the hard parts! Oh, I might act like its work sometimes, but I have concluded that I enjoy the ride more than I enjoy the destination. As backward as that sounds, it’s true. In fact, once the work is done, I almost loose interest!

Now don’t get me wrong, I also enjoy the rewards of my labors. There is little better than a fresh ear of G90 Sweet Corn coming right off the grill, accompanied by some shish kebab-chicken, pineapple, peppers and onions! Make that along with some freshly brewed sweet, iced tea and nothing ends a hot summer day better!

My point is this; if you are like me and you start feeling stressed about all the things you need to do to get ready for spring, just think of it this way, what you’re feeling really isn’t stress, its excitement! Nobody is making you do those things. You are doing them because you love doing them. And remember, if you don’t get it all done, that just means you are leaving some fun on the table for next February!

Let me know if you suffer from this same affliction! Lol

p.s. Punxsutawney Phil said an early spring this year, no pressure! ;)