Lessons from a Few Old Potatoes

My lockdown harvest

During lockdown I discovered my love for gardening. There wasn't much else to do back then, so I threw myself into growing all sorts in my little garden. I grew tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, carrots, strawberries and even managed to grow a harvest of potatoes from a few old shop bought spuds! Not everything I tried was a success, mind you, but I was fascinated and wanted to grow as much as I could! It got to a point where it became difficult to throw anything with a seed away after cooking, I was constantly thinking, "I wonder if I could grow this..."

What has this got to do with Therapy?

You may be wondering what all this gardening stuff has to do with therapy? Well, I think gardens provide great analogies for life and can help us to understand ourselves and our world. I learnt so many lessons in my garden. Take my old potatoes for instance, I'd never grown them before, no clue where to start, but it just occurred to me to use what I have, a few old potatoes in the back of the cupboard, that would've probably ended up in the bin.

Sometimes, we can see ourselves or our gifts, talents or skills like those old potatoes, especially after so many hard knocks in life; "what do I have to offer the world?" "I'm not good enough at..." "I can never be...." "I'm passed my prime, it's too late for me". Sometimes we can focus so much on what we don't have, that we can overlook the value of what we have right now. Like the old potatoes, you may feel worn out, rough round the edges, tired of repeated setbacks, but if you look again, look beyond the rough edges, look at what you have survived, and accomplished in spite of those setbacks, look at the potential you still have and dare to invest in you again. This may look different for different people, however, choosing to work on yourself in therapy may also be just what's needed to reconnect with you and rewrite some of the unhelpful narratives you may be telling yourself.

From Darkness to Light

Therapy can feel scary, like those potatoes being submerged into the dark soil with creepy crawlies, it can feel like delving into a dark void of the unknown, fearing what you might bump into in that darkness - perhaps buried pain from the past, sadness or grief, fear, anxieties and endless worries. However, as you courageously work through the issues that may have held you back, within a warm, caring, empathic therapeutic relationship, like the sunshine and water causing new shoots to sprout through the soil into the light, you too can grow through that dark painful void, eventually press through to the light and reap a great harvest! Through facing your fears, learning new lessons and embracing opportunities you once shied away from, in the light you can see your potential realised, though problems and pain are inevitable in this life, you can still flourish in your gifts and talents and become more fruitful than ever before!

Choosing Life

Those little old potatoes that were heading for the bin turned out to produce more potatoes than were in the original shop bought pack! They were much bigger too! All because I chose to see life and purpose, in what I would usually assume was useless and dead. Like those days when I struggled to throw anything with a seed away, we ought not to be so quick to give up on ourselves, but perhaps ask instead, "I wonder if I can grow in and through this and what opportunities might await me as I, like those potato shoots, press through the darkness into the light..."  What new harvests might you reap if you also choose to see life, hope, potential and purpose?

My fruitful potato plant