In the past week, because I was on a mini vacation (when the shit always seems to especially hit the fan), I kept bumping into my overly-inflated sense of responsibility and, even more to the point, false sense of control. I’d answer the phone or open an email, and voila! I was off to the races about how to address the crisis at hand. It didn’t help that some of those nearest and dearest to me were calling in real crisis, asking for advice, which did seem like mine to give. But beyond the advice, those burdens weren’t mine to carry and resolve. Coming home, I ran into more messes that needed clean-up, and the distinct refrains in my mind, “Not mine” and “Step away from the mess.”
Years of being the only one still at work at 1 a.m. to fix a collective hiccup when everyone else is putting their feet up and watching Netflix has taught me something along with recent run-ins with people like me who are far more controlled by this tendency. Such encounters show me the damage of over-responsibility. Burnt-out people tend to be bitter, anxious, and not so pleasant to share enchiladas with. Most of all, I’ve been trained by my body which has a global-sized talent for getting sick when I run myself into the ground. A sinus infection for six weeks? A strange case of vertigo? A foot injury that makes it hard for me to move forward without hobbling? This body can pull the breaks on over-functioning on a dime, and in the long run, I’m grateful.
Yesterday, fed up with my habitually pushed buttons, I took to the garden. Thanks to our friend Jim building us two beautiful raised beds that needed dirt, and dirt that needed to be moved, I had the perfect diversion away from what’s not mine. I shoveled for half an hour in the morning and another half hour in the evening, interspersed with bouts of weeding and raking. There’s nothing like gardening to get clear on just about everything in life, especially all that’s beyond our understanding. Being a full-body experience, especially the shoveling part, it works on me like yoga (which I also did yesterday): it’s hard and encompassing enough that I can’t think about solutions for problems that belong to others.
The more dirt I moved and smoothed, the more I came back to the real work that belongs to me. Covered in dirt, tired and sweating, I walked to the house afterwards at dusk, ready to wash off all that wasn’t mine. Soon, I start planting what’s mine in the process and harvest, waving at the worms along the way, showering off the chiggers looking for a new home, and remembering more of who I am and am not.
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