While in the middle of our holiday period I wanted to share with you how I deal with the stress of running a business, managing staff and clients and all the other things that add to the stress levels.
A vegetable garden!
I remember my dad spending hours working on our family vege garden on his days off work. I always wondered why he did it and now I know why.
There is something that touches our inner core when you get close to the land and work with it. Watching things grow that you nurtured from seed is truly a stress-reducing experience.
Unfortunately for me (and many others I would guess within my generation and future generations) is that I learned nothing about how to grow your own vegetables. Many generations ago people had to because that was how you survived – there were no supermarkets.
To teach myself I read many books on the subject and visited Common Sense Organics to get the potting-mix, compost and seeds. Yes – I am at the age where I give a damn about what I put in my body and would rather save and buy a good bottle of wine than spend $8 bucks on crap. The slow-food movement is very appealing to me.
Anyway – back to the subject.
Running a business is not easy and you are constantly faced with challenges and stress. Some use drink/drugs to numb the stress but I have found gardening to be a life saver.
Why not try it yourself?
Not only is it a feel good for the mind and body but you learn a valuable life-saving skill.
Who knows… The way the financial crisis is going you many need to grow you own (see my financial blog for more on that => MarksInvestingBlog.com
Also check out Gardentalk.co.nz for helpful advice on gardening.
Plus – my advice (newbie of course!)…
Only buy heritage seeds and ‘root stock’ plants, don’t use any kind of chemicals to control insects or weeds instead use natures pest controls such as Marigold, companion plant, get a worm farm!, use seaweed/worm tea and fence off the garden if you have pets.
During winter chopping wood does the trick for me.
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