Garden Therapy

After having not really taken any notice of our gardens front, side, or back, over the past ten years of living within Bournemouth, it came as a disturbing shock to note that, over the time we had been in our home, it was beginning to resemble the forest that this area used to be much akin to looking many hundreds of years earlier in time. Nature indeed did seem to be chucking out a great big 'Hi there, I'm still here, are you, what about coming to see me at some point, you know, if you are not too busy huh?'

Much like the person leaving the empty toilet roll in the bathroom, in the hopes that the next person in there would take it away! It never happens, and before you realize it, you have the idea of watching re-runs of Blue Peter (1958 - 2011, now being shown on CBBC) all over again; just to come up with ideas over what to build with empty rolls and 'sticky-back plastic.'

Until earlier this year I have worked as a full-time registered mental nurse in various fields; the latter years being within the specialty of Locked Secure Care (for persons detained under The Mental Health Act 1983.) As with many nurses, the shift working covering nights & days were 12-hours, with more overtime than you could handle. After coming home after your shift, all you wanted to do was eat, have a bath and go to sleep; before the next intensive 12-hour shift.

Nursing has always been far more than just a job, much more, a career, that people do when they want to do nothing more than care for vulnerable people; in their time of need and support. After a 12-hour shift, the drive home from work, a bath and, a quick family catch up on how their day has been for them, it was time to head straight off to a warm welcoming bed. It does not take much to work out how much of a non-existent social & family life a nurse really has!

Until in 2020, when I contracted Covid-19 from work. After time spent in hospital and oxygen therapy, I was finally on the other side of the hospital bed - I was no longer the nurse helping others in a bed. I made attempts after 7-months of recovery of going back to work on phased returns and adaptations to help my work life easier to manage, but it proved too much to deal with. In March of 2021, I finally needed to call it a day - after I had spent copious amounts talking to people about how important their own health was to them; it was not long before the same talk was being had with me. And so, and with much to my regret, I resigned on ill-health grounds from work.

And this then became a new way forward, one of many since that moment.

In the past few years as part of my last post and toward meeting my Nurses & Midwifery Council (NMC) Revalidation requirements, I had attended and completed a week-long university face-to-face participatory course in DBT (Train the Trainer) qualification. I recalled the part of the training all about Mindfulness. This is where you can learn in a more focused manner, which involves the person making a special effort to notice what's happening in the present moment in time (within your mind, body, and in your surroundings.) Simple day-to-day things such as:

-- take time out from your busy schedules to smell flowers or of a rose.

-- what the sky looks like

-- the formation of each cloud, their colour, depth

-- look at the sea, sit on the beach, and simply relax taking in the surroundings around you

-- watching other people,

--taking time out to read (and yes, VOCAL is a great read; please read & click the heart symbol please)

-- go swimming

-- window shopping (although not one of us has been doing much of that recently due to the Covid-10 lockdowns)

-- writing to let out your hidden creativity within yourself

-- breathing exercises

-- activities such as yoga, running (although not that I can do this anymore!)

-- taking time out of your day to just think & accept how you are feeling

And the list can just go on, it is all about you and finding out where you fit into life. So as you can see, mindfulness has many avenues that can help you manage.

So for me, it has turned out that writing on VOCAL has proven a good mindfulness technique and, so to the garden, it is now then... and the garden has been shouting out my name for many years believe me. I find that now I am not working, it can cause stress in itself. Living off the UK Government benefits system (well, the less said about that, the better!)

Our garden has my time now (sorry VOCAL rather you and our garden) have the shared daily time for now! And my god, the garden(s) are one hell of a challenge to take on after so many years of neglect. As I cannot walk well, and cannot stand for long periods, my wife takes my disability chair into the garden for me to rest on when I need to. It is beautiful to mow the grass down, get rid of those nettles that used to keep saying 'Hi there I'm the nettles, we're taking over mate!' And to simply sit in the garden and 'watch the world go by.' with a cup of coffee in my hand, being able to have a long meaningful chat with my wife who has always been there for me throughout my nursing career, never waivering from her endless love and care. I would now at this point in my life never ask for anything or anyone more than I do now.

So as you can see, for any one of us in this position, there is always hope through the dark times in our lives. Therapy knowledge or going through therapy can support you, and help you discover how to access your inner peace within yourself when you really need it to find the real you.