Name Your Weeds

Hello Gardeners! If you've read our book or watched our web series you know that flowers are the things that make us feel happy and weeds are the things that make us feel sad, scared, or mad. Sometimes "sad, scared, and mad" are too vague to accurately describe our weeds and if we can't pinpoint the emotion(s) at the root of our weed, we can't pull it out.

For example, one of our #PullYourWeeds writers noticed she starts to feel irritable, tired, and cranky during certain hours of the day - especially on days when she hasn't eaten full meals or nourishing food. By examining how she reacts to hunger and how she feels when she is hungry, she determined how to pull that weed and how to prevent that weed from growing (eating full meals or keeping snacks on hand).

#GardenerDevin's hangry snack! All you'll need is a banana, peanut butter (allergies substitute sunflower butter or tahini), and chia seeds. Makes a great mid-morning or afternoon snack.

It just takes a little investigation to get a clearer view of what you're feeling. To make this process a little easier, we compiled a list of possible emotions that your weeds make you feel. Take a look at this list when you feel a weed popping up and try to identify with some of these words. Once you have an idea of what you are feeling, you might have a better method for pulling the weed.

Feel free to screenshot this list to carry on your phone or tablet.

We've also compiled definitions for these words in case you need some clarification:

Thanks for reading along gardeners! Keep sending us your flowers 🌻 and your weeds 🌱 - we love hearing from gardeners all across the country, #TheFutureIsBright!