Weeding—it’s one of those things that I tell myself I should be keeping up on, but also something I’ve become very adept at putting off. But eventually the weeds reach a place where I feel compelled to take action. Such was this weekend.
And although if felt good to clean up the planters and get everything trimmed and cleaned, there were still lingering questions for me to consider. Like, exactly why did I wait so long to deal with these? And, wouldn’t it have been easier to start earlier in the year, and spend a minimal amount of time keeping up on it? By not dealing with it earlier, not only did I have to deal with the sight of the weeds over the past couple months, but also had to eventually put in a significant amount of time to finally deal with them.
Weeds are not unlike other things in life. You can choose to deal with issues early on, while they’re still small. Or, you can wait. But waiting doesn’t usually make the problem go away—you still end up needing to address it later, and often it’s gotten worse. Just like the weeds out back didn’t magically disappear. Rather, they kept growing and spreading.
Ultimately, it’s not a matter of if we’re going to deal with the issues that pop up in life. It’s a matter of when. And sooner is usually better.