The Best Time to Plant a Tree

There's a saying amongst gardeners: the best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago; the second best time to plant a tree is today. The same goes for you when it comes to growing dreams, aspirations, even parts of your character as demonstrated through your actions.

Eucalyptus regnans or Mountain Ash, photograph thanks to David Clode via Unsplash

Consider how a tree starts out. The Eucalyptus regnans, otherwise known as Mountain Ash or Tasmanian Oak, is the tallest known flowering tree in the world; in height it can reach 100 metres (328 feet). It is absolutely massive!! Yet, if you lie its seed end on end, you can fit two alongside the length of a grain of rice.

From such tiny beginnings, around the size of a small flea, grows this immense, regal eucalyptus. No matter where you are in your life, if you can identify the sources of sun, soil, and water for you, and you have a sense of where you wish to grow, then you will grow. It won't be easy. And the world is not fair; falling short of your goals is about luck as much it is about something you've done or not done. You need to collect yourself up. Try again. But you will grow.

When you grow in the direction of your values - those things that mean the most to you - even when you do fall short, you will have a sense of having tried. Having been true to yourself, and that, at the end of your days, is so vital to a sense of your life having meant something. Alongside that, though, you will achieve more that is in line with what is most important to you if you start and if you persevere. Understand that from tiny things, giant things can grow.

When you have unhelpful thoughts about how you're not enough, or "who am I to even think I could possibly.." or "I'm broken I don't know how", bring your mind at least to these two things.

First, you're not alone. EVERYONE I have ever worked with thinks this in some way, shape or form: "Do I have what it takes to be my kind of special? Because my kind of special is that over there and I don't think I have what they have." No.. your kind of special is over here, with you, and you have it; you just need to iterate towards it and understand that anyone who has been lucky enough to be elevated where their kind of special has been recognised has managed two things; they've been lucky and they're persevered. But a sense of not being enough? It is universal.

Second; don't try to fight such negative thoughts. Rather, accept they're there and direct your mind towards other elements of your experience. For instance, look towards the positive of "why do I want to do this?". Why does something mean enough to you that you're willing to endure the heartache of potential failure in order to give it a go?

And can I say that almost anything you do that is meaningful to you carries the potential of breaking your heart.

The secret is to embrace vulnerability, to understand that there will be feelings of grief and sadness when the down moments come. Offer yourself self-compassion in such moments, allow yourself to rise, and try again. Be like a big tree, growing from a tiny seed, and keep actioning what is meaningful to you.

In general terms, actioning things that are meaningful to you means identifying and actioning your values in really tangible ways. It is so important to identify the small, manageable actions that take you in the direction of bigger actions or 'goals' that serve the life you are most passionate about living. That is, identify the 'seeds' rather than trying to leap to planting a bloody great tree with roots and a canopy and all - that will come. as the actions come together in achievement of goals, these goals to knit together such that before long you've grown a forest, which collectively has a name and an ecosystem and is about more than just one regal tree.

When the doubts come, reflect back to your values. Remind yourself about why certain things are worth striving for, for you. And remind yourself about the tiny Mountain Ash seed. From the tiniest of seeds, something so big grows.

"I am the Mountain Ash" can become your mantra as you work forward.

Say it now.. "I am the Mountain Ash". Feels silly? Accept the feeling. This is an opportunity for you to feel this tiny hint of embarrassment or awkwardness (relatively speaking) about embracing a mantra that compares you to one of the great trees of the world. Accept the feelings and say it anyway. I am a Mountain Ash. Accept any feelings of lacking confidence, lacking direction, and do things anyway. Come up with possibilities and try them anyway. You go do you, one step at a time, and see where it grows you.

And remember, the best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago - but the second best time is right now. Arguably, short of a time machine now is the best time. The same goes for things that you want to action in your life. Whether it be a characteristic of how you interact with others, your work ethic, learning a new language, the relationship with your family, your occupation, where you live, how you speak to the bank teller, how often you exercise. Anything at all where there is an "if only" or a positive "what if..." hanging over your mind; start actioning it now because now is all you have. And if you can't do it now, start planning it now. Planning is action; and planning is the first step anyway. Don't allow "if only's" to erode the time of your life.

Plant that tree. You are the Mountain Ash.

Greta Bradman, 2021