Transplanting - One of my Favourite Activities!

Transplanting - One of my Favourite Activities!


 I love transplanting trees, shrubs and plants. For me it's like planting hope. 

It's especially fun if the stuff is free! When I lived on a farm, there were woods on the perimeter of the 100 acres but right near the house there were hardly any trees at all. And the lane was not tree-lined.

I changed all of that one tree at a time and at no cost. I remember clearly getting up early in the morning and taking a vehicle out to the woods and digging up some treasures and transplanting them around the house. Some didn't make it but most did.

I only stayed on that farm for four years so I didn't get to enjoy the fruits of my labour, but that's okay because I totally enjoyed the work of transplanting. Sometimes I take a drive by that old place and admire my handy work. Since it was over 25 years ago it is absolutely amazing. The trees are tall and swaying in the breeze. The driveway is tree-lined making a wonderful approach to the house. And the house is 

This spring at my cottage I have had fun transplanting hostas by splitting them up. They are hardy and already making my new little cottage looking homier and more settled. My next project is to create a perennial garden which will take some time since the digging here is really challenging,. And I don't plan to purchase anything! Between friends and family I know I can get some plants to get me started.

Transplanting trees and plants is fun and full of wonder and hope for me. Today I transplanted four little trees. There is a favourite popular tree I love because the leaves twinkle in the sun and they make the nicest swishing noise, so I planted them outside my bedroom window. I thought it might be a nice sound to sleep to. But I'm not overly optimistic. I couldn't get any dirt with these little trees, they were fastened tightly to their home, so I ended up yanking them out without any dirt and very little root. They might die, but you know what, they may make it! 

But when you are recovering from depression you may not enjoy being transplanted. You may wish you could take your healthy self, your 'old self' into your new life. That may not be possible. It may be a whole new life for you.

But you can take the good things that you still have going in your life and transplant them into your new life, the life you must create for yourself in order to manage depression.

We are very much like transplanted trees. We have been yanked out of our comfort zone and forced to grow somewhere else. But that little transplanted tree can have an even better life, having more room to grow. We can grow too if we can accept our new circumstances.

WHAT ABOUT ME? I have been transplanted. There are still some things in my life that I miss. I won't list them here or it will get me down. But there are lots of parts of life I totally enjoy. I still have a life. I have put down roots and I have grown.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? How are you feeling today? Have you resisted being transplanted? Are there parts of your old life that you miss? Does thinking about yourself as a transplanted tree bring any comfort at all?

Don't give up! I am praying for you. There is hope for depression.



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