“The grass is green where you water it.”

You know the drill…”The grass is always greener on the other side.” I’m sure you’ve also heard by now (or at least seen on a Pinterest board somewhere down the line) “Comparison is the thief of joy.” True and true. But you know what’s also true? The grass is green where you water it. Or, at least, the grass is greenER where you water it (because if you, like me, lack a particularly green thumb…we know our limitations when it comes to lawn work. 😉 ).

You know what’s sad? It’s sad how quickly we surrender our own joy because we see someone else doing something different, and we want their joy instead. It’s due time for another new mantra for this grey Monday to turn things…green:

"The grass is green where you water it." - Monday Mantra on Coming Up Roses

 

THE GRASS IS GREEN WHERE YOU WATER IT mug - MANTRA MUGS - on Coming Up Roses

The Grass is Green Where you Water It Mug HERE

What the heck does this mean?
This means “the other side” isn’t part of your equation. It can’t be. Put your blinders on, and, as my 9th grade History teacher would’ve said, “Stop rubbernecking.” Keep your eyes on your own paper, and stop the constant comparisons to everyone else and their mother when it comes to you doing your own job and what you love best.

If you live by the first not-so-great mantra  – “The grass is always greener on the other side” – you’re literally allowing for someone else to have a happier yard just because you can’t see the already existent good in yours. Or, perhaps even worse, you’re unwilling to put in the really hard work that’s needed to get your own yard in tip-top shape.

It takes work.

If you want to live the kickass life of your dreams, there’s always going to be someone doing it better than you. But that’s not the point – because there’s always someone out of the 7+ billion people on this planet that can do something better than you. It takes work, and sometimes that may be why we find it temporarily easier to just envy others and whine about why they have it so easy or why they just had success “handed to them.” But what good is that in the long run? It gets us nowhere, and our grass is still #burnt in the end.

Rise above that and water your own grass instead of looking at the neighbors. Get your tools out, get some knowledge, and get to breaking a sweat and earning your own success that you can – and will! – create for yourself.

If someone else’s grass is green, it’s because they’re spending time at Home Depot wandering the garden section, figuring out the right fertilizers to put on it. They’re not sitting on their bums staring out the window at your grass – they’re putting in #werk to get their own grass as green as can be.

Sometimes plants have a dormant phase. It doesn’t mean the plant is dead – it’s just resting and readying for the next season of growth. And all plants have root systems – including grass. You can’t see it happening, but it’s there, and it’s essential to any sort of growth and green at all. People need roots, too – the core values and integrity that anchor you to who you are and keep you grounded (pun intended). The unchangeable pieces of you that all other things are built upon. In this society, instant gratification is a thing. Sometimes we give up and walk away too quickly because our own grass isn’t growing as fast as someone else’s, or we just feel like we’re not good enough to make it happen ourselves.

The lesson here?

By spending time worrying about and focusing on what everyone else’s yard (ie. life, career, relationships, etc.) looks like, you’re wasting time that could otherwise be spent on watering your own yard (ie. life, career, relationships, etc.). The result is a whole lot less confidence in your own work, a whole lot more overwhelm with the world around you, and a whole lot less progress in your own yard.

This mantra is especially salient to me today, because I woke up wanting nothing to do with blogging. I woke up wishing I could just sleep for another three hours and rise with a cup of coffee and a movie or something – not work on a Monday. But sometimes you need to push yourself to take the step, like forcing yourself to water your houseplant because it’s starting to look like toast (guilty), because you see the potential.

You have potential.

So nix the comparisons, keep working hard, and keep your eyes on your own yard.

Tweet that: 

NO RAIN, NO FLOWERS - A Mantra inside Caffeinate Your Soul: 52 Monday Mantras

The grass is green where you water it – how can you better your own yard?

Now go have a kickass Monday.

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