Weeds in the Garden

"Don't let the weeds overtake the garden". -Jim Rohn (if I remember correctly). To me it means "Do your work", or as Garyvee might say "Get in the Dirt". If you were to look at a neglected garden, full of tall weeds that was going to take a long time to clear out, you might feel overwhelmed, helpless, tired, afraid, resentful, angry, annoyed, depressed, and grumpy. I feel like a neglected garden is analagous to looking at the problems in one's life. The weeds are the problems, and there are certain emotions that arise as one looks at life's problems.

So how does one begin to cope with life's problems? Another way to ask that question might be what does one do when there are problems? Even another way to say it would be what is a person's behavior when there are problems? Even Even another way to ask that question is how does a person deal with problems? I hear those four words quite frequently, and there are probably other ways to describe approaching life's problems. Oh, there's one more.

Interesting words: COPE, DO, BEHAVIOR, DEAL, APPROACH. There is a lot to unpack there. For the sake of saving time, since you are probably facing a lot of weeds and have a to do list to get to, here is a model I have found to categorize COPING STRATEGIES. 

Another word I have heard used when asking people about why work isn't done (I'm a high school teacher) is PROCRASTINATION. Then I usually hear the word lazy. I respectfully disagree. I think procrastination actually means ineffective use of coping strategies. I am under the impression that the self-talk people have, or their internal language, be it positive or negative, helps guide their decisions when it comes to their coping strategies. That's right, I believe that your coping strategies are your decisions to make. There aren't many choices, only 3 (according to the model, good luck changing my mind on that).

So what guides internal language? People experience a lot over their lives, maybe their experiences have a lot to do with how they speak to themselves. What if those experiences were bad? A good friend of mine posted this on Facebook, and I stole it (how do you like that, Sarah?).

Complicated indeed. In my school district's Teacher Collaboration Time, we are examining the issue of equity. An interesting question in my mind is how can students who deal with the limiting factors of trauma receive equity in public school? And that's just ONE of many questions. I get quite overwhelmed with all of the input, it's hard to make sense of it all, probably due to my own limitations.

Over my 13 years of teaching, I have done a lot of task analysis, as a way to cope with my problems. I have also avoided things, and become emotional when faced with difficult tasks. I guess there is one more thing though, that I could add to the model, and that is to start. Make a choice to pull out a weed, walk over to it, grab a hold of it, and pull. See what happens.

Figuratively speaking, when you are faced with a garden full of weeds, where do YOU start? I'd love to read your comments below!