Thrive In The Situation You Were Put In

As a gardener, I am learning this very important thing: plant only what will grow and eat whatever you could get.

So, the Fall is here and all the summer plants are closing shop. Now, the Fall crops are sprouting. Tomatoes, watermelons, cantaloupes -- you know, all those delicious fruits -- will not grow again until next year. So, I'm stuck with all the salad plants: bok choy, lettuce, kale, broccoli, mustard greens, pretty much all the leafy green stuff. In general, I don't like ANY of this crap!

Guess what? Those are the vegetables that will grow during this time! I could either give myself a headache trying to grow the stuff I really want, or grow what I know would thrive -- and learn to like it!

While I generally don't like the leafy green stuff, I have learned little by little how to make tasty dishes using these vegetables. Everything from green smoothies to stir-fry foods, the leafy greens have been growing on me. Now, I'm looking forward to growing more of them!

You see, the opportunities presented to you may not look attractive just yet. In fact, they would look downright awful to you. But if you learn to work with what you have, you might find yourself not only liking what is presented to you, but also thriving in it.

Listen, you may not always get exactly what you want. There are few things in life that you want and you could actually get. Most other things in life require an acquired taste -- that is, you just need to learn to like it.

When I was doing personal training, I really didn't care for it. I had no vision for it. Despite people asking if I do personal training and even showing interest in paying me for it, I still wasn't a fan of it.

But later on, I found that personal training is something I have been successful in. All my clients have gotten results -- except for the ones who just didn't try. The income potential and the amount of time to spend on clients would further promote lots of family time. Plus, I didn't need to have any space of my own. I could just meet clients in their homes -- or wherever.

The more I thought about it, the more it just made sense to get into personal training again. There were other things I wanted to do, other things I really had hope in. But my situation didn't allow for those things -- my situation did allow for personal training. So, I could either sit around hoping that I could do the other things and bring myself to poverty, or take the opportunity that is given to me and learn to thrive in it.

I would love to eat cantaloupe from my garden all year long. Well, that's not going to happen -- unless I plant the cantaloupe plants indoors, pollinate my cantaloupe plants by hand, and turn up the heat in the house. Plus, I need to plug in a black light so that plant could get some UV rays. That's a lot of work just to get cantaloupes! Or, I could just work with whatever that grows during the Fall and find ways to enjoy the foods that grow. Whether cantaloupe or lettuce, they are both nutritious!

Same thing with the opportunities that you want and the opportunities that are given to you: they are BOTH good for you. One isn't better than the other. It's just that you would have to work much, much harder to get what you really want -- and you still may not get it! Growing cantaloupes indoors with all my hard work does not guarantee cantaloupes would actually grow. If you go with the opportunities that have been given to you, you won't have to work as hard to thrive in it -- simply because the opportunities were given to you.

Remember that you could learn to enjoy anything. Enjoyment for a particular thing doesn't always have to come naturally. I never enjoyed healthy eating when I was a kid. It wasn't until I was about 16 when I started enjoying healthy eating and having intense interest in health and nutrition.

I teach kids at my church on Wednesday nights. I never thought I'd enjoy teaching kids, but the more I do it, the more I actually like it. While I don't have a "passion" for teaching kids, I am pretty darn good at it, and the kids love having me as their teacher.

You may not like the opportunity, but it is given to you. If it's given to you, then work with it and learn how to make it work for you. Before long, you would be a master in it!

Right now, people are impressed that we have such a successful garden on a patio! The patio is only 90 square feet. Some of you have acres of land! My dream is to have acres of land where I could grow an orchard and have some chickens running around. But, that opportunity has not been given to me. I would have to work like MAD to obtain my dream and make lots of sacrifices. The opportunity that HAS been given to me is a small apartment with a patio. We are THRIVING as urban farmers, or "patio farmers," and showing other people that it is possible to have a successful garden with little space.

In fact, I am a member of a Facebook group that promotes one of the vertical garden towers that I have. Within a few months of posting my garden photos, one of the co-founders of this vertical garden decided to make me an administrator of that Facebook page!

Thrive with the opportunities that are given to you. Don't sweat blood for that other thing that you really want. Perhaps those other things really aren't for you. Maybe you would do better with the opportunities that life presents to you. Plus, you won't live so stressed out trying to get something that may never happen to you.

If life gives it to you, take it and thrive. Maybe one day you will live your other dreams, but until that happens, thrive in the situation that you were put in.