I’ve noticed something as of late. And it’s one of those welcome discoveries that we sometimes make that surprises us. For me, it was the fact that this was the first time I actually looked at my garden. I mean, I spent almost six years building this thing, one little foot at a time. Turning a patch of land in the middle of what is appropriately named the “Rocky mountains” into a garden was never an easy task, but one that I loved.
I built this little garden as I quit smoking. I still smoked for a bit in the beginning, but for the most part, I was enjoying the freedom without cigarettes as I built this thing. Well, maybe not at first, but I had some nice hard clay ground filled with rocks to smash my shovel into when I got, how do we say - eh - grumpy?
Yeah, we’ll just call it grumpy. But I realized this year that as my quit grew, so too did these flowers and bushes. So too did the trees that happened into the yard. And ever so slowly, it became a thing of beauty.
Sure, there was a lot of work to get there. But the rewards have always been tremendous! And
on top of that, above the garden is a mountain that reminds me of Mt. Freedom every day! And you know what? It makes me proud to have accomplished a dream, just as I did when I quit smoking!
I know it can look so daunting at first. Like when I stuck that shovel into the ground for the first time, looking around and seeing that I was a long way from finishing my task. So too did the quit go. It may seem so far away at first but so long as we keep building on that first day. So long as we can see what we’ll have at the end of our toils, then eventually we get to live the amazing beauty of what we’ve done.
It takes time. It takes patience. It takes a burning desire for freedom and it takes a belief in ourselves and our longing to see a new and different future!
Be proud of yourself as you take that first step to freedom. Be proud of yourself every day that you remain smoke free. For you are doing something amazing. You’re taking back your future. Your choosing life over a slow death. You’re choosing to live a new life that is incredible! It’s just a little hard to see at first, but freedom never comes easy.
And just like you, I have the dream of freedom. Just like you, I found a way to take that first step and just like you, so long as you stay true to yourself then your own internal garden will flourish as you walk that incredible path to freedom.
Always try to look ahead, to that wonderful place that you want to see so badly. Plant those first seeds and watch them flourish as you put one foot in front of the other and before you know it you too will be living the life of freedom that so many others are living and believe me, it’s an amazing place to be!
ONWARD TO FREEDOM!!!
Chuck
