A lot of you may not know this, but…
I am a self proclaimed Plant Mami! The plant lady if you will. I have quite the obsession and can name every plant in your office building or the local mall. Don't let me spot a plant store because it'll take intense bribery to get me out of it.
My space is FILLED with houseplants from monsteras, calatheas, and pothos to those succulents that everyone says are impossible to kill, but they'll die if you look in their direction. My plants hang out around my writing nook. Mostly because that's where my window is (sunlight, duh) but also because they bring me comfort.
I got my love of plans for my mom who got her love of plans from my grandmother. As a kid, I remember every inch of my grandparents' house being inhabited by some sort of greenery. I would watch my Grand use whatever container, she thought was useful to give these plants a home, and she spent so much time watering them, picking the dead leaves, etc. and I never understood why. Why spend so much time caring for something that can't return the favor?
It wasn't until I saw the depths of my mom's interest in plants that I understood. One summer she had the crazy idea to dig up a large portion of our backyard to create a garden. She dedicated days, weeks even to making sure that the design was perfect for the plants she'd hope to grow there. Once the build was complete, and all the seeds were planted, it came time to wait for the results. To me it truly felt like forever and I honestly thought she was wasting her time. That was until I saw the first sprout.
It was a teeny little thing, so cute though, and mom was so excited. That's sprout, obviously grew and grew until it finally produced fruit. To see the excitement on Mom's face as she told everyone on Facebook about her garden, and how it was finally producing, everything clicked.
All of her hard work was finally paying off. With Mom it wasn't necessarily the satisfaction of her garden producing (although that was a dope touch) it was the satisfaction of knowing that she worked hard for some thing, and although I took time and a great deal of effort, it was all worth it to know that she could do it.
I honestly love that for her! And kind of wanted a bit of that feeling for me, so I stole one of her house plants, and put it in my room! Plant theft indeed, but what's mom's is mine.
Once Mom realized I took the plant she hipped me to the fact that this particular plant had actually been around for generations. Mom got a cutting from grandma who got a cutting from her mom who got a cutting from her mom! This old ass plant had been cared for by so many generations of women who all began their plant loving journeys for different reasons.
I cared for this plant in a way that most people would call excessive, but I absolutely could not be the generation that killed the family plant, okay?! Whilst caring for the plant that I have now named Eve (for obvious reasons) I remember my mom telling me to talk to the plants…
And of course, my first thought was OMG Mom is a weirdo, but within my research on how to not kill plants I actually found studies on how talking to your plants boosts growth! Not sure why I was so appalled by that info giving that plants are living and breathing beings just like us.
What sparked my original thought of my plant mami journey was, drumroll please... a journal prompt. The prompt was "What does your inner dialogue sound like? What do you say to you on a daily basis?"
I've never truly thought about my inner dialogue prior to starting the prompt, but as I sat with my thoughts, I knew what I wanted it to sound like. If talking positively to your plants, boost their growth as living, breathing beings, it would only make sense for the same to be true about us! How we talk to ourselves or about ourselves will determine the growth we see within ourselves.
I want to speak to myself the way I speak to my plant babies. I want to speak to myself in a way that will promote growth, that shows how much I care about me. I've been taking my time and working to make sure that my growth is inevitable, but sometimes I still beat myself up about mistakes. I'll occasionally downplay my accomplishments. Essentially, my inner dialogue isn't where it can be, and I'd like to work towards that.
My plant loving journey begin at a time when I was searching for purpose. I needed something to care for not realizing that through my plants, I was teaching myself how to care for myself. I was teaching myself how to pour into myself when I was almost on E. I learned how to keep a somewhat consistent self-care routine, and I learned how to leave myself the hell alone to flourish when the time is right! The only step left is to talk to myself… To promote my own growth, to speak life into myself.
So essentially what I'm getting at is, if you see me chatting to myself… Mind your business, I'm growing here!