You may be wondering what planting flowers has to do with today’s Tuesday Topics theme but before you ask Kim and Zenaida to kick me out, let me explain.
Planting Flowers
For those playing along, today’s theme is “What’s your plan to achieve your 2022 goals?” My main fitness goals for 2022 are to remain active, remain injury-free, and continue to have fun. My plan for achieving those goals involves continuing to enjoy a mix of strength, running and cycling workouts on the Peloton app, appreciating the joy Scooby brings to my outdoor runs, taking time to warm up, cool down, and stretch, and signing up for events that will challenge me just enough to feel exhilarated when I’m done—whether it’s a road race, Farm to Fork Fondo, or other event just outside my comfort zone.
Nothing about flowers there, though.
My priest shared this comic strip in the January newsletter, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since.
This Tweet credits Spanish cartoonist José María Nieto
as the original creator of the 2017 version,
Apparently the original 2017 version was slightly different:
I don’t see any reason to be optimistic. What do you think the new year will bring us?
I believe it will bring flowers.
Really? Why?
Because I am planting flowers.
Either way, the exchange both expresses my concern for the year ahead, and gives me a plan to make it better. Instead of fretting over how things seem to be getting worse, I can take steps to make them better.
I can’t ponder a garden-themed philosophy without thinking about Voltaire’s famous last line of Candide: “Il faut cultiver votre jardin.” Countless books, Ph.D. theses, and essays have been written about what it means, but I come back to this: Instead of despairing over all that’s wrong with the world, focus on your small plot and do what you can to make it better.
But my plan for 2022 isn’t to plant flowers in my backyard for only my family to enjoy. I don’t have a green thumb anyway. My priest shared the comic in the context of inspiring us to plant, nurture, and grow a stronger sense of community and caring relationships with our individual and collective neighbors. I am going to think hard about the issues worrying me most about the year ahead, and come up with steps I can take to help make 2022 better.
![The Ultimate Coffee Date](http://got2run4me.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Ultimate-Coffee-Date.png" "The Ultimate Coffee Date")
Oh, I love this, Coco!
I fully agree with this idea. Yes, we can’t change the world, but we can control our outlook. Having a positive attitude, caring about our family, friends and even strangers on the street, helping out where we can – that can change our lives for the better.
Witnessing the abject poverty that some people live in here in South Africa has helped me to be more aware of the good we can do in our community and to worry less about things I can’t control.
I really like the idea that you can have a role in making the year a good one or bad one. Covid taught us the limits to that, but there’s still a lot we can do.
This is great. I was a French teacher for years. We used to read candied and always did a project about that quote.
Thanks for reminding me.
Here’s to 2022 optimism.
Voltaire would not condone our optimism, but that’s too bad for him!
We cannot always control what the universe throws at us but we can control how we react to it. I like this idea of being proactive for the year
It’s better than wallowing in despair. 😉
Yes, I love this! I’m planting flowers too. Thanks for sharing it.
Planting flowers is a good objective, literally and figuratively. We cannot be disappointed in the lack of pretty flowers if we’re not doing our part to plant them in the first place 😉
Exactly!
It’s healthier (and a lot more fun) to have a positive outlook on life. “Planting flowers” is a great way to look at life if one is prone to worry.
Interesting analogy — I haven’t heard that before. Although there is an analogy in Yoga about the seeds we plant in our minds, which brings us back to concentrating on the positive.
I think if the last couple of years have shown me anything, it’s that there’s so much we just don’t have control over. No use worrying about that. Be prepared, of course, but worry is usually a waste of time. That and don’t hold onto goals too tightly!
I really, really love this analogy! Before 2022 started, I told myself that I would try to make it a good year, despite all the craziness. I think one thing that will help me do that is writing down a weekly “good thing” every week this year.
That’s a great idea! One of my friends writes random good/fun things that happen on slips of paper and puts them in a jar, and then revisits them over the holidays.
Such a great idea. There is so much we can’t control, but let’s embrace what we can and do what we can to make our corner of the world that much better.
Yes! It’s easy to feel helpless, but there really is a lot we can do.
I love this so much! We focus on what we can control…and make better. Here’s to planting flowers! 🙂
And you’ve got the green thumb for it! 🙂
As I continue to feel overwhelmed with all that is going on around me, earlier this week, I had an epiphany: Don’t waste energy worrying about things you can’t control. My own way of planting flowers.
I needed to read this. Thank you.
Your post made me smile! Thank you. I know we are in for another rough year but it all depends on our attitude. I remind myself that I cannot control what happens or doesn’t happen at home but I can control what goes on in my classroom.
I love this! Like Zenaida says, this actually made me smile. Sometimes we get so bogged down with what’s wrong and become so internally focused on our woes we forget to look around at the bigger picture and what we can do to make things better for our community.