I have been taking care of houseplants for over 10 years now. Throughout these years, I have been both successful and unsuccessful, it has been an incredible learning experience. It would probably surprise some people the number of lessons I learned from my houseplants, not only in taking care of them but in my own life as well.
In my experience, some of the best lessons about life come from the most unexpected places. They don’t come from your teacher or your mentor, but they come from the random person you meet on the street or the raccoon that has decided to move into your garden.
Wherever these lessons come from, they mean something. I like to believe they mean more than the cookie-cutter words we are so often telling each other. I have always found so much comfort in these little nuggets of wisdom you can pick up from random parts of your day.
Some of the lessons that I still think about to this day came from taking care of my houseplants. It may sound strange, but I promise it’s true! I have learned so much from my cacti and philodendron!
Life Lessons That My Houseplants Taught Me
1. You are just like a houseplant, you need water, sunlight, nutrients, and nurture to thrive!
So often, we get too focused on making sure everyone around us has everything they need to grow. Whether it be our children, pets, family, or friends, people often focus on helping others before helping themselves.
But when I started really caring for my houseplants, and understanding how each plant had different needs, I realized that humans are the exact same way. Houseplants all need water, sunlight, nutrients, and a little nurturing and so do humans. Although we all have different needs, some things we should always be getting is some water, food, a little Vitamin D, and some nurturing from those around us.
So make sure you are handling your basic needs before anything else. You cannot become your true and thriving self without some water, sunlight, nutrients, and nurturing!
3. It’s okay to be unique
This is related to the first lesson I learned from my houseplants, but I think we all should be embracing our uniqueness a little more. Every human comes with a different set of skills, hobbies, and personalities. We are all different. That is what makes the world so exciting.
What would Earth look like if every plant was the same? Say grass was the only plant on earth, and trees, roses, sunflowers, herbs, and more simply did not exist. It would be a pretty boring place to be! All the plants would be the same size, color, and shape.
Lucky for us, we live in a world with hundreds of thousands of different plant species, each with a unique set of traits and needs. Just like how we live in a world with 8 billion unique and interesting humans. That is so cool!
I have so much fun going to a plant store and seeing all the unique plant offerings. Finding something I have never owned before is so exciting! So why don’t we treat people like that? I love meeting new people with different hobbies and interests. I love learning from people with different experiences!
3. You can always learn more
With all the unique and beautiful houseplants I have brought into my home, I have learned so much. As I mentioned, each and every plant I take care of has different needs. Some need less water. Some need more sunlight. Each plant species is different!
Which made me realize, there is always more to learn. No matter how many succulents or snake plants I have owned in my life, I still have so much I don’t know about taking care of them. I could read 1,000 plant blogs and still have more to learn.
I love to transfer this to my own life. I will never stop learning. I have been out of school for a couple of years, and I still treat every new day like a school day. What can I learn today? What new information can I absorb?
Once I left the obligation of school, learning has become one of the most exciting parts of my day. I love growing my wealth of knowledge on various subjects. I learn about my houseplants, my community, random crafting projects, and more.
4. You can’t control everything, sometimes things are out of your control
This was one of the toughest life lessons I learned from my houseplants. I am somewhat of a perfectionist, and I get pretty upset when I am not perfect at everything I do. It’s pretty bad for my mental health.
When I started caring for houseplants, I was not perfect! I let so many houseplants die for one million different reasons. I was stressing because I thought I was picking easy-to-care-for plants, but I was still losing them, I felt like a failure!
I tried everything, I learned as much as I could from websites and books until I finally came to the conclusion that there are some things that are simply out of my control.
Sometimes, you bring a houseplant home from the store to discover your new purchase has a pest it picked up from the other plants. You can do everything you can, change the pot, get new dirt, and wash the leaves and your plant still dies. This is something we can’t control. We can try and try and still not be successful.
Sometimes there are things in life that are out of our control. It’s an uncomfortable truth. It is okay to let things go. Not every failure is a reflection of yourself, sometimes that’s just life. Life works in funny ways, sometimes you just have to let it happen instead of trying to control it.
5. We all need each other to grow, it’s okay to accept help
Houseplants need humans to thrive. Because they are living inside, they can’t naturally get water, sunlight, and nutrients. They need others to help them and provide them with these things. So do humans! No matter how independent a person someone is, we still need a community to make sure we are reaching our fullest potential.
I have said this before on my blog, but being a human includes community. As society, especially American society, becomes more individualistic, I think people forget how important and beneficial it is to have a community around you.
Just like houseplants, we sometimes need a little help from those around us to grow into the person we are meant to be. It is okay to accept that help!
This was so much fun to write! I hope it can put a smile on someone’s face like it put one on mine!
