My therapy is gardening. I love to turn soil, plant and landscape. I am sure there are a number of parallels to be drawn and life lessons which we could take from gardening…. right now I can think of two:

1. Lesson: Preparation is everything. Poorly prepared soil will yield very little indeed. I recently re lined a pond in my garden, in my hast to get fishies settled in their new abode I didn’t properly prepare the ground… Now it would appear a sharp stone has penetrated the pond liner. You can never spend to much time preparing.

2. Lesson: The challenge is everything. It’s not always the outcome which is most important in life. The most enjoyable thing in life is the journey this is the same in gardening. Its all about nurturing plants to reach their potential thats the fun, I mean, sure seeing a flower bed blossom is great but the challenge of getting there is what its all about.

3. Lesson: dont compare yourself to others. If you spend your whole time peaking over the garden fence in an attempt to grow the same plants at the same time as your neighbours then you will invariably fail in your endeavour, end up with an unoriginal plot with nothing to be proud of. In life aim high and don’t compare yourself to others, remember the grass is always greener on the other side!

Thats three, but the last one just came to me.

Thank you Andy for your swimmers wisdom.