How The Outside World Can Help Us Understand Our Inside One Pt. II
Taking care of ourselves is a task that is much easier said than done. We hear about the importance of self care from very early on, but we’re left to ourselves to decide what it looks like. We are all so differently wired from one another and often we find that what works for someone won’t work for someone else. When we last talked about how our outside world can give us clues into how our inside one operates, we looked at how using the sky can be a beneficial tool in weathering the storms our minds have. In this piece, I want to use that same frame of thought to examine how plants grow as a basis for some universal measures we can all use to better care after ourselves.
I’m a proud poppa of a couple of plants. Something I have learned from taking care of plants is that it’s really never the seed’s fault for failing to bloom. Plants need a few fundamental components in their environment in order for them to flourish: water, sunlight, nutrients, and time. Failing to provide these key elements will severely hinder a plant’s ability to grow into its full potential. One day, as I was watering a plant of mine, it dawned on me; humans are essentially complicated houseplants. Now I am by no stretch of the imagination a biologist, but I do know that plants are living things just like we are. They breathe, we breathe. They grow, we grow. This idea was the beginning of me understanding what self care needed to look like at its most fundamental level and it further reinforced my theory of the inner and outer worlds being linked through our consciousnesses.
Humans are made up of roughly 70% of water and it’s responsible for so many of our life functions. Things like regulating our body temperature, keeping our joints lubricated/organs functioning properly, preventing infections, and delivering nutrients to our cells are heavily impacted by our water intake. A lack of hydration can lead to headaches, dizziness, fatigue, bad moods, and a host of other unpleasant symptoms we would try to avoid if given the option. Our consumption of it is almost mindless in the sense that we sort of just lump it in with every other liquid we’re consuming, when it is vastly different. Liquids like soda and caffeine actually dehydrate the body more than drinking nothing would. It is said that the average adult should consume at least 64oz. Of water daily, but I was never a fan of blanket estimates. WebMD suggests ““In general, you should try to drink between half an ounce and an ounce of water for each pound you weigh, every day.” For example, if you weigh 150 pounds, that would be 75 to 150 ounces of water a day.” As a 220lb man, I need more water than a 130lb woman would. We see this in plants as well. You wouldn’t douse a few stalks of bamboo much like you wouldn’t spritz a dracaena. The 0.5oz per lb is a good measuring stick, but hydration is innately personal. Play around with the amount you consume and find your sweet spot, but I can assure you that making an active effort in incorporating more of it into your daily life can only benefit you… just know where the restrooms are!
The sun is such an important part of life; without it we would cease to exist. Not only does it support the function of life, it supports the quality of it as well. Something that always stuck out to me regarding the sun’s importance is SAD, or Seasonal Affective Disorder. It is defined by the Mayo Clinic as “A mood disorder characterized by depression that occurs at the same time every year, especially prominent in climates where there is less sunlight at certain times of the year.” I am someone who struggles with this tremendously. I am so influenced by the sun (and the moon for that matter), that even when it’s grey out for a couple days I notice a shift in my energy. Plants are also highly affected by the sun. Something about plants that has fascinated me since I was a child were the characteristics of heliotrophic and phototrophic plants, like Sunflowers. These plants will either shift to grow towards the sun or grow their blossom facing towards the sun. “How do they know?” seven year old Paul would ask. Twenty four year old Paul still really doesn’t have the answer, but thinks “Maybe they don’t know, maybe they just feel it, like we do”. If the sun has as much influence over our moods to where the lack of it warrants a diagnosis and as much influence to affect the direction of how certain plants grow, then we have to take it seriously and be proactive in getting it. In those dark winter times we can be like Sunflowers and grow towards it by way of supplementing with Vitamin D, natural light lamps, and tanning, but when the sun is out take advantage of it! Instead of going to the gym, workout outside. Instead of taking your lunch in the breakroom, make yourself a little space outside and soak the rays up. It’s not the end all be all to our mental and physical states, but it is certainly a piece of the puzzle that we should be holistically conscious about.
Plants and humans alike require nutrients to function, what those nutrients look like on the other hand looks different. Plants require soil that is rich with nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium in order to grow, but if you were to consume soil rich with those compounds I don’t think it would benefit you and I don’t think you would enjoy it. When I think of nutrients that are good for the human body, I think of the things that naturally come from this earth. Things like fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, grains, and minimally processed foods. Personally, I’m a vegetarian so I stay away from meat, but I also think that it is a quality nutrient for the human body as long as it is ethically sourced and not farmed. It’s a shame that these foods are much harder to find than the ultra-processed fast foods we are used to and it’s not hard to see the link between that and the obesity epidemic that our country is currently facing. Ultra-processed foods have the ability to pack a whole bunch of calories into very little spaces. In three Oreos you’ll find 160 calories and 14g of added sugar, the kind of sugar that throws your gut biome into a blender. 160 calories is also two cups of blueberries, and apple and a half, or 5 cups of chopped broccoli. Calories aside, ultra processed foods lack the micronutrients needed to support optimal physical and mental health. Now I am not inferring that you should throw out everything in your cupboard that tastes good, but if you feel inclined to do so I’ll leave my address at the bottom for you to bring them right on over. What I am saying is that like water and like sunlight, what we’re consuming both physically AND mentally impacts our ability to grow as well. Plants don’t have the ability to scroll through their phones for hours, watch the news, or connect with their friends or loved ones, but if they did, it would most certainly play a role in their development. We have to be cognizant of the relationship between what we are consuming mentally and how it may impact our ability to grow. Things like excessive screen time, fear-inducing content, overly violent video games, toxic people, overwhelming negativity, and a lack of things that ignite you will have a very similar effect on your mind that slamming a couple Big Macs would have on your body. Fill your day with things you enjoy and people you love, and if you’re not able to make sure you make up for it when you can. Mindful consumption isn’t easy to the advanced let alone someone starting out, so be easy on yourself and watch yourself start to bloom.
The last piece of this growth equation is time. Whenever I grow a plant from scratch, I bury it, I give it its sunlight, water, and nutrients, and I wait. I don’t dig up the seed every few days to see if it is working, because that would kill it. Similarly, if I am ever out on business or I am away from my plants for an extended period of time, once I come back chances are they’re hurting a little bit. In those scenarios I’ll put them in the sunniest part of my apartment, water them up and let time do the trick. In relating this back to the human experience, trust that you have everything within you grow right where you have been planted and don’t let any sort of overthinking or over analyzing tell you any differently. Let time and consistent energy come together and do what time and consistent energy do.
Self care is never perfect. Society has almost romanticized self care to a point of unattainability and that’s far from the truth. Each conscious step you take in this journey will get you closer to the you that you deserve to be. While you etch out your own plans on how you do whatever it is that you need to do for yourself, think about how some of the biggest trees and the most beautiful flowers grow; they hydrate, they spend due time in the sun, they consume nutrients, and they wait. Also remember that we aren’t really ever alone in this life of ours, for what surrounds us is within us. As above, so below… now go on and bloom you complicated houseplants you...
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