Seedling Stage
August 13, 2025
Tending the Garden
August 27, 2025
Planting is hard and satisfying work. You have germinated ideas and nurtured them into tiny seedlings. It is time to make choices and to create the space needed for growth. There is risk in putting your ideas out into the world. In the liminal process, you are moving from “what if” to “let’s try.” Planting is an act of hope. Setting new ideas up for success takes effort and energy, it is important to set aside time to rest as part of the process. Your imagination and resources will shape how you plant.
Choosing
Planting is a time to make decisions. Having germinated ideas and nurtured their early growth in the seedling stage it is time to make choices. If you’ve ever started too many seeds indoors, you know the temptation to keep them all. Life works the same way. You want every new project or role to thrive. However, a pumpkin patch may crowd out your tomatoes. A spruce tree will eventually cast the whole garden in shade. Choosing what to grow means accepting that some seedlings won’t make it to the soil.
Letting go is hard; there are so many great ideas. Give excess seedlings away or compost them. This creates the space you need for one or two projects to grow. Saying “not now” is a gift. Make a choice, if you leave all your seedlings trapped in tiny pots none of them will blossom. Decide what growth you want in your life for this season and focus on what those seedlings will need out in the world.
Creating the Space
Your seedlings need room and support to grow. Creating an optimal habitat for them can be hard work. Your new project needs room in your schedule, and resources. Digging holes means moving other things out of the way. You may run into unexpected rocks or other barriers just when you are ready to get going. A climbing vine needs a trellis from the start. A new project may need a calendar reminder, a budget, or a friend to hold you accountable.
Looking ahead to the needs of your project will increase the chances of long-term success. It will also reduce the chance of a butterfly bush overwhelming your prize rose bush. What level of support will you need going forward? A patio tomato plant is a one-person project. A huge vegetable garden might work better in a community garden where watering and weeding tasks can be shared. For a huge or complicated project you might hire people to do some of the work. Planning out the space and resources needed increases the chance that both you and the new project will thrive.
Facing Risks
It is possible to plant a whole garden only to have disaster strike: a storm washes seedlings away, deer mow down leaves, or a sudden heat wave withers the plants. In life, too, we face the unexpected: a project collapses, a relationship shifts, a health crisis surfaces. It is risky to get a plant started, and yet it is the only way to reap a harvest.
Planting means exposing your ideas to others. Your choices become evident and not everyone will agree. Some input can be ignored. At times unasked for advice saves you time and energy or even ends up saving the project. You decide what input you want to accept, consider or ignore. Resilience doesn’t mean pretending losses don’t hurt. It means noticing what still has roots, protecting what can be saved, and sometimes starting again with new seeds. Planting is risky, but it is also the way to learn, grow and create.
Resting After the Work
Planting is labor. Digging, moving dirt, unearthing buried rocks requires both mental and physical energy. Bigger projects need to be done in stages so you have time to rebuild your energy or gather more information. Once the seedlings are in, rest is essential. Stepping back gives you time to recharge and to appreciate what you have accomplished this far. Growth takes time, and part of resilience is trusting the quiet work that happens beneath the surface.
Planting is a time during the liminal process when you choose an intended goal and head in that direction. You choose which, of all your ideas, you are going to plant. This requires letting go of the possibilities that aren’t best right now. You create a space in your life, building in as much support and structure as possible.
There is risk and a chance of amazing success. By accepting help and support while filtering out unwanted input you begin the process of nurturing the projects that fit into this season of your life. Supporting new growth is hard work. Stepping back to rest and recharge builds your long-term resilience. As you enter this season, ask yourself: Which seedlings in my life are ready to be planted now, and what supports will help them take root?
Peace,
Laura
I run accountability sprints for solopreneurs that provide support for new projects. The next one begins on September 8, 2025. You can find more information about our sprints here.
