Life Grows Where You Place Your Attention
Water your own plants and life
While it should be obvious that we should be focusing on our life, there are times when we get caught up caring too much about someone else’s life and something far more distant than ours. We neglect most of the things we have while looking elsewhere and admiring someone else’s life. In the process, sometimes we forget that we can be like that, happier or any adjectives that you would attribute to that person. This is a reminder that you can have a happier life like the ones you normally see or look up to.
While tending my balcony the other day, I realized that one of my plants withered. I have a hybrid species from Crown of Throne. This house plant is spiky and best as ornamental yet defensive plants. Mine grows in a huge pot and used to bloom so beautifully but it has been many months since I neglected it. So, I moved it closer to where I normally hang out and somewhere I can always see.
It invites me into this reflection that these days, we tend to see what’s out there while filling the gap of our day. We are bombarded with someone else’s life, on-going drama and the world politics that constantly tries to grab our attention. If we get caught up in the middle of those, it’s not your win but everybody else’s.
The thing is, energy and attention are our most prized possession these days. Forget about money for a while but if you can master those two, I think you'll master the way of living. I don’t necessarily disagree with the presence of social media and everything that we currently have. However, I think we’re at the late stage of it all. We are simply tired of seeing it all.
I recently heard a conversation between someone in their early 20’s. They all felt hopeless because the future doesn’t seem like it’s worth fighting for. They said that whenever they look at the news and social media, there’s really no hope in doing anything. They are now desensitized and unsure how to move forward.
Honestly, it is sad to see that kind of mindset. The world as we know today is certainly shifting. It reminds me that back in the day we didn’t grow up with smartphones but then, smartphones are now everywhere. This is just like AI where now, it seeps into every part of our lives and in a year or two, we can be so reliant on it and there will be no going back.
So, really in navigating the world that’s going in a direction that can be quite unprecedented, our energy and attention is the best leverage we all have. For me personally, I have this guilt of watching too much aesthetic interior design content. I wanted to own a place that looks as aesthetic as those perfectly curated houses. The thing is, I forgot to look around that I too, can create something like that because the commonality between all those aesthetic surroundings is simply a clean, clutter free and well-managed home.
Certainly, it’s easier to work with a blank canvas but in my case, when I start decluttering again, it frees up a lot of things in my life. Things are starting to take shape and I know exactly what to fix, what to keep and what to improve. Just by doing that, I remember times when I look at someone’s life and they appear happier, had more fun experiences. The thing is, I too can be like that. It’s all a matter of living and doing it, rather than just looking at someone’s life and watching our time pass by.
Though it may seem slow, tedious, and challenging, there will be a time when our work and what we do now will be rewarded. Just like the plants that have their time to bloom and their season to shine.
 | Mac covers technology, philosophy, books, productivity, minimalist lifestyle, cybersecurity, coffee, and languages in no particular order. In her free time, she enjoys learning various things that would be too long to name in this tiny box. |
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keep up the good work
the Euphorbia milii does have nasty thorns indeed , as a child i had to remove many of those thorns from my fingers because my mom loved that plant , kids and smartphones over here they are finally waking up and forbid kids to have them in class anymore , but if you see what they share these days on tiktok , it's sad that it had to come this far .
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Indeed it's really sad that it all comes to this. I honestly want to collect more plants like that just because when they bloom it's beautiful.
Your experience with the wilted plant was a real symbol and everything in life needs care and constant attention.
That's true, sometimes you just have to water your own plant and that's the way to succeed.
This is quite a lovely insight on life.
Thanks for sharing ❤️✨
you're welcome! It's good to be reminded once in a while.
I honestly felt that part where you said "it's not your win but everybody else's". I've been spending too much time doom scrolling and feeling drained after.
doom scrolling is bad and honestly, I fell into that trap too and that was bad from my experience
It is hard to imagine a world without smartphones/Internet, but it takes just a few hours to realize the effects that they have on us... I would say that the Internet is behind "modern problems", and smartphones are just one of the arms... Not sure if you heard the news when we had a blackout in Spain and we didn't have electricity AND mobile signals at all... Which means, no Internet too!
In the first place, people began panicking... after a few hours, people began to turn on the old battery-powered radios (including myself 😃), to hear what's happening... When we KNEW that it would pass, I went for a walk and saw so many people doing the same, walking on the street, chatting with each other, enjoying life... So, it doesn't take too much to "see the other side", but it is a big challenge to fight the "addiction"...
Regarding young people without motivation... I would say it's information overload... The "negative" news was present before too (they sell the best), but not in this magnitude... which is overwhelming...
I'm guilty of the same thing... Caught myself so many times that I want to COPY what I saw, instead of CREATING something MINE! Killing my own creativity...
Good read! Take care!
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I heard the news and actually was surprised such thing could happen there. But I guess that was a good reset, wasn't it? I would really love if that happens just a day over here. I guess everyone would start having fun again rather than glued on our phone.
These days even for me I try to limit my social media. It's not that good to always listen to bad news and can really impact our lives greatly.
Thank you so much for checking out!
That's the second post today that I read and de-cluttering comes up. Is that a sign?
Being hopeless about the future is, as so many things, a matter of perspective. As we have all the information of the world available, it's as you say - we forget about the small, little, seemingly insignificant part that is us. Everything is hopeless when you look at the whole world through the regular channels, as drama sells better than hope, failure better than success.
While the world as a whole should be considered in daily actions, it should not be the decisive weight on the scale.
hehehe this is definitely a sign to de-clutter. I am currently decluttering a lot and trying to avoid news channel as much since I am definitely news overload these days. For example, look at how long it took for me to get back to this comment hehehe.
I hope you have a great week ahead.
Thank you! Likewise!
This is so true. If you asked me 10 years ago where I would be in 10 years time, I wouldn't have expected to achieve so much, and made so much progress. We don't notice little changes each day or month sometimes, but it all adds up as years go by!
It is definitely is even the things we didn't do adds up too. But this was such a reminder that we should water our lives cause we never know how far we would come.
"We neglect most of the things we have while looking elsewhere and admiring someone else's life."
This line really hit me. I honestly just realized, after reading your post, that this is what I do sometimes. That's why there are times that I find myself unhappy. I am not focusing on the simple, important things in my life, and instead, I'm too focused on what make others happy. Thank you for this post; it's a great reminder to prioritize my own life and find happiness in what I already have.
It's time to focus on the simple things in life and start seeking our own happiness.
Sometimes it's okay to just take a break from everything and try to feel everything around you. Too much of the world inside our phones can really mess up what we initially see the world around us as— when it was just the world as it is, not the one-sided world we know through social media. I think that for me, it's not neglect at all, just a much-needed recluse. I hope many people shouldn't feel bad having to take a leave from social media because they feel like they're neglecting 'information' or such, because they really need a rest. Everyone does!