0:00

Have you ever heard of the term eco-anxiety,

0:02

plant friend? It's a word that is becoming

0:04

more and more popular. I'm hearing it more

0:07

and more as we stare at our climate

0:09

crisis and how it's affecting both our

0:11

gardens and our lives. So the

0:13

American Psychology Association describes eco-anxiety as

0:15

the chronic fear of environmental cataclysm

0:18

that comes from observing the seemingly

0:20

irrevocable impact of climate change and

0:22

the associated concern with one's future

0:25

and of the next generations. As

0:28

we connect to our plants and our gardens, we

0:30

are also connecting to the earth and

0:32

it makes total sense that people who

0:34

are gardening are probably gonna experience eco-anxiety

0:37

because we care about the earth, because we're

0:40

part of it, right? So today we're dedicating

0:42

an entire episode to talking about this concept,

0:44

how to identify it, how to know if

0:46

it's something you're suffering from and how to

0:49

treat it with nature. Welcome.

0:51

Welcome to the Growing Joy with Plants podcast,

1:00

where we not only learn how to care

1:02

for plants successfully, but how to simply and

1:04

affordably use our plant babies to cultivate more

1:06

joy in our lives by doing so. I'm

1:09

Maria, former plant killer turned happy plant

1:12

lady, author of Growing Joy, The Plant

1:14

Lover's Guide to Cultivating Happiness, speaker, podcaster,

1:16

and most importantly, your new best plant

1:19

friend. On Growing Joy with Plants, you'll

1:21

find conversations about house plant care, gardening

1:23

tutorials, and wellness through the lens of

1:25

plants. Plant care

1:28

is self care on

1:30

Growing Joy. Hello,

1:35

my plant friends. Welcome back if you're a

1:38

recurring listener. Hello, it's so good to have

1:40

you back. I am so honored to be

1:42

a part of your journey into plant parenthood

1:44

and connecting with nature. If you're new here,

1:46

hi, I'm Maria. I'm your new best plant

1:49

friend and I help people care for plants

1:51

successfully and grow joy in their life by

1:53

doing so. What's the opposite of joy? Anxiety,

1:56

eco anxiety. I feel like

1:58

some people have probably not even heard term

2:00

before, but it's a term that's coming up.

2:02

It's been talked about a lot more. And

2:04

my friend Raquel, who is a repeat guest

2:06

on this podcast, you might have heard her

2:09

episode on using nature to cultivate

2:11

your intuition, maybe how to be a green

2:13

witch. She was in our recent

2:15

spring Equinox episode, but she is

2:17

an intuitive healer who is so

2:20

connected with nature and the elements. And

2:22

she just came out with this incredible book,

2:24

self care for equal anxiety, that talks all

2:26

about this problem that is arising for so

2:28

many of us. And we have such a

2:30

great conversation about what is equal

2:32

anxiety? How do we treat it? Why is

2:34

this important? And it just makes so much

2:37

sense as we all come into our own

2:39

nature based awakening that we are nature, of

2:41

course, there's going to be anxiety that arises.

2:43

So I hope this episode provides support. It's

2:45

not a traditional plant care episode, but I

2:48

hope it provides you support and perspective as

2:50

we move into the gardening season, as we

2:52

get outside more as we connect with nature

2:54

more as we're in spring and summer. And

2:57

I hope you like this conversation as much as I did.

3:04

Raquel, welcome back. You're basically a monthly

3:06

guest at this point. I

3:08

love it. Thank you so much for having me. And

3:10

you know, I mean, I tell you all the time,

3:12

I love talking with you, Maria. Love it. Any excuse

3:14

for us to talk about plants and magic and nervous

3:17

system regulation, I will take. I'm

3:19

so excited to talk to you today, Raquel, because

3:21

this is a concept I don't have a lot

3:23

of experience with, but I know a lot of

3:25

people do. I know it's something very personal to

3:27

you. This concept of eco anxiety, as we're talking

3:29

more and more about global warming and it just

3:32

feels so helpless sometimes. So can we start

3:34

with what is eco anxiety? This is a

3:36

word that's getting talked about a lot more.

3:38

What is it? What does it mean? Oh,

3:41

yeah. I mean, that's the best place

3:44

to start, right? Like to define what

3:46

it is. So eco anxiety is a

3:48

term that actually the American Academy of

3:50

Psychiatric have come out with now and

3:53

it's basically an existential fear or dread

3:55

about the future because of environmental destruction,

3:57

climate change, things like that. Now, when I

4:00

was experiencing my own journey with eco-anxiety,

4:02

we used a different term called eco-phobia,

4:05

which is basically fear of the

4:07

environment. But I'm thinking eco-anxiety describes

4:09

it better than eco-phobia does because

4:12

we're not afraid of the environment, we're

4:14

afraid of what we're doing to the environment,

4:16

right? Right. Or how the environment

4:19

might betray us eventually. Yeah. Well,

4:21

as we've betrayed it, yes.

4:24

As we betrayed it, yes, totally.

4:28

10,000%. So when we think about

4:30

eco-anxiety, it's more than just the

4:32

feelings of anxiety. It's also the

4:34

feelings of rage, of anger

4:36

at our leadership, at

4:39

our corporations for not doing

4:41

better when it comes to protecting the environment. It's

4:43

also the feelings of overwhelm

4:46

and even apathy that we can feel

4:48

that keeps us from actually taking action

4:51

as well. So like a lot of

4:53

things when we think about anxiety,

4:55

it encapsulates more than just the feeling

4:57

of anxiousness. There is rage,

5:00

there is fear, there is

5:02

overwhelm, there is even a bit of

5:04

paralysis all wrapped up in

5:06

that one term, eco-anxiety. Yeah.

5:09

I mean, I'm at the age where me

5:11

and my friends are all family planning and

5:13

having babies or discussing whether or

5:15

not we're going to have babies. And I can't

5:17

tell you how many times people are considering whether

5:19

or not to have children based off

5:22

of the climate crisis and what kind of

5:24

world their kids are going to have to

5:26

take care of. I don't

5:28

think any other generation has really thought

5:30

about it that way before. That's a

5:32

very next level of anxiety. Yeah,

5:34

I agree. And I know I have two

5:36

children and I know that with my husband

5:38

and I, we were very clear that we

5:41

only wanted to because for us, that feels

5:43

like we're not increasing the population amount. We're

5:45

just kind of in that place of like

5:48

replacing ourselves at some point. But I understand

5:50

when people are deciding that perhaps they don't

5:53

want to have children at all, I can completely understand that.

5:55

And I think one thing that's really important for us to

5:57

express around eco-anxiety is that for

5:59

For anyone who's listening who has experienced

6:02

eco-anxiety or who is currently

6:04

experiencing feelings of anxiety or

6:06

overwhelm or confusion or rage

6:08

regarding how we're taking care

6:10

of this planet, please note

6:12

that's actually a really sane

6:14

response for what society is

6:17

doing, which what we're doing as a society

6:19

is an insane action. What

6:22

we're doing as a society is unsustainable,

6:24

illogical, and insane. And

6:27

so for those of us who are aware of

6:29

this, having this emotional reaction

6:31

is actually a very valid and

6:33

sane response to what we see

6:36

happening. So I just want to start with

6:38

that. You're not alone if

6:40

you're feeling this way. You're not

6:42

quote unquote wrong, I don't even like using

6:44

that term, for feeling this way. There's nothing

6:46

wrong with you for feeling this way. You're

6:49

feeling this way because you're paying attention and because you

6:51

know it doesn't have to be like this and that

6:53

we can change this. And I think

6:55

that's what's important for us to note and

6:57

why it's actually really important for us

6:59

to talk about eco-anxiety because

7:02

the eco-anxiety we're experiencing is actually

7:04

keeping us in the same systems

7:06

that got us to where we're

7:08

at. And that's where we

7:10

can talk about nervous system stuff. Yeah.

7:14

What about your personal experience with eco-anxiety? Can

7:16

you kind of talk about when you identified

7:18

it, even if it used to be called

7:20

the eco-phobia and kind of how it's grown

7:23

within you and how you've grown to manage

7:25

it? Yeah, definitely. So, you know, I've been

7:27

on the show before. You all know some

7:29

of my backgrounds with just nature and how

7:31

nature has always been this beautiful

7:34

place of restoration,

7:37

magic, connection, divinity

7:39

for me. When I was,

7:41

when was it, 2007? So

7:44

I was like 26, 27. I

7:46

went to get my master's at Scripps

7:48

Institute of Oceanography. I was getting a master's

7:50

in marine biodiversity and conservation. And it

7:52

was like this one intense year-long program

7:54

specifically for people who are already working

7:56

in the environmental field who wanted to

7:58

have more resources, more resources. more education

8:00

to bring it back out into the field. And

8:03

the way that a lot of this was presented to us

8:05

was through a lot of what we consider doom and gloom.

8:07

Let's just teach everyone about how bad everything is,

8:09

how shitty it is, how much we're destroying the

8:12

oceans, ocean acidification, plastic

8:14

pollution, how our current

8:16

systems are just keeping this in

8:18

place. And I

8:20

fell, like I just spiraled downward. It

8:23

was my first time really having

8:25

intense acute anxiety. And

8:28

the first way it hit me was that I would

8:30

start waking up at like 4 a.m. just like waking

8:32

up like with this like dasp but not

8:34

being able to fall back asleep. And

8:37

then I lost my appetite completely. I lost

8:39

like 20 pounds because I had no appetite

8:41

because I had these racing thoughts in my

8:43

head all the time about how bad everything

8:45

was. And for me, instead of it being

8:47

inspiring of like, this is bad, we need

8:50

to make this change. It was like, it

8:52

had me feeling like, what's the point? What's the

8:55

point? If it's this bad, can we

8:57

even shift this? Can we even change this? Like for

8:59

me, it really made me feel like, I

9:03

should just give up and figure

9:05

out how to live a little life until

9:07

we all die. Like it was bad. Yeah. I

9:11

think some people experience that though where they're

9:13

like, does my recycling even count?

9:15

Like does it even, does do the small

9:17

shifts and changes that I make even count?

9:19

And of course the answer is yes. And

9:21

it's funny, the episode that airs right before

9:23

this episode is on composting. And I have

9:25

a very similar conversation with that

9:28

guest about does composting in my little home

9:30

and just saving my little food scraps do

9:32

anything? And the answer is of course it

9:34

does, but it's totally a thought that a

9:36

lot of people have when you just feel

9:38

so overwhelmed, it's easier to just check out

9:40

and be like, no, it doesn't. I'm just

9:42

gonna throw everything in the garbage. Yep,

9:44

yep. And actually this whole book is

9:46

basically like, yeah, the little things you

9:48

do matter. The way you feel about what you

9:51

do matters, right? Like that's what this whole book

9:53

is. So I completely agree with you.

9:55

So anyway, at that time I went to

9:57

therapy, like through the school, they put me on air. anxiety

10:00

medication, sleep medication. I

10:03

got through the program and of course being in the program,

10:05

once we got past some of the doom and gloom and

10:07

we actually were in the action part, that

10:09

kind of helped. And then I started,

10:11

I got a job at Monterey Bay

10:13

Aquarium, working there in environmental education, writing

10:15

curriculum. The aquarium was a

10:17

lot more about presenting solutions, being very

10:19

kind of activist oriented. So that really

10:21

helped a lot of my feelings of

10:24

equal anxiety. But when I had my

10:26

second daughter, when she was about six,

10:28

no, like 10 months old, the

10:30

anxiety came back really strong. And I'm

10:32

sure it had something to do with like postpartum stuff

10:34

too, but it came back really strong. I started

10:37

having panic attacks at night when everyone was sleeping

10:39

and I couldn't sleep. And I

10:41

was just petrified about the future for my children.

10:43

And then just petrified because I felt like, why

10:45

can't I get out of this? So,

10:48

and then I've shared my story many

10:50

times of how plants came in and creativity

10:52

with plants and how it changed everything for

10:55

me. But that was my experience with equal

10:57

anxiety, was the sense of, I can

10:59

look at this world and see its beauty, but

11:01

as soon as I saw it and could like

11:03

feel the beauty, I would immediately turn that off

11:05

and be like, no, it's fucked. Like it might

11:07

look beautiful on the surface, but actually

11:09

everything is hurt and

11:12

wounded beneath, right? Everything is actually

11:14

terrible if we look a little

11:16

bit deeper. That's where I was living for

11:18

like years, years. I

11:21

feel like so many of these interviews that

11:23

I've been doing lately, and also just conversations

11:25

I'm having in my personal life are all

11:27

about just the concept of perspective and how

11:30

perspective is the magic of living a happy

11:32

life. Like you can choose to view the

11:34

doom and gloom, or you can choose to

11:37

say, okay, I'm gonna be part of the

11:39

solution. I'm gonna help fix things. But

11:41

the perspective is so important. I

11:44

mean, even when you look at your garden, is it

11:46

a plant fail or is it a learning opportunity, right?

11:48

Am I gonna look at this? Is it, the classic

11:50

glass of water is half full or half empty? I

11:53

feel like this is also kind of one of

11:55

those opportunities to either let it completely

11:57

paralyze you, like what we've talked about, not... not

12:00

composting, not doing anything, not allowing

12:02

yourself to even access the awe

12:05

of the beauty. Exactly. Or deepening

12:07

into it, rooting even deeper into it

12:09

in order to do

12:12

something and actually allow it to help you

12:14

feel good. Yes. Why

12:17

do you think this all matters? I

12:19

mean, I think you kind of just hit the nail

12:21

on the head with what you were sharing. It all

12:23

matters because first

12:25

and foremost, we cannot separate

12:27

our health as humans from the health

12:30

of the planet. I think it's really

12:32

important that we state that like over

12:34

and over again. Whatever we do to

12:36

the air, the water, and the soil,

12:38

we do to our physical being who

12:40

breathes air, drinks water, and eats food

12:42

grown in the soil, first

12:44

and foremost. So even if we

12:47

go into a place of wanting

12:49

to rectify and resolve, remedy some

12:52

of the ways that we're currently treating the environment, if

12:54

we do it from a place of fear, rage,

12:56

paralysis, or

13:00

I mean, if it's paralysis, we're not gonna do

13:02

anything. But like if we're doing it from this

13:04

place of like anxiety and fear, we're going to

13:06

be doing it in a way that's actually affecting

13:08

our health negatively, which is going to be impacted

13:11

on the environment as well. So if we can

13:13

come to a place where we can come back

13:15

to a place of connecting with

13:17

the environment in a ways that benefit our

13:19

health and wellness, when we can come

13:21

back to a place of feeling into our

13:23

relationship with earth and nature, from a place

13:26

of love and connection and reciprocity, we're

13:28

gonna be acting for earth in ways that we would

13:30

just act for anyone we love, because

13:33

that's what love is, is that beautiful

13:35

give and take. And we all know

13:38

we're taking from earth. We can't not take,

13:40

we are consumers, it is what we are.

13:43

That being said, we are meant to give back

13:45

to earth in return. Right

13:47

now we are giving back to earth, but most of what

13:49

we're giving back to earth is pretty

13:51

toxic, but we can give

13:54

back to earth in ways that are

13:56

organic, that are restorative, that are regenerative.

13:59

And that's really, where the conversation is going now. And

14:01

I'm really excited to see that. Yeah, like when

14:03

you talk about Earth as mother nature, it's like

14:06

you'd never let your mom just

14:08

like deteriorate in the hospital, you know, or

14:10

like you'd never treat your own parent or

14:12

your own family member the way a lot

14:14

of us have. And here's the other thing,

14:16

a lot of us have really unknowingly done

14:18

a lot of the damage too. So I

14:20

don't want this episode to be like, everybody

14:22

sucks, like get your act together. Oh, not

14:24

at all. Yeah. Because I think, I mean,

14:26

at least for me, when I kind of

14:28

woke up to my ignorance, having never composted,

14:30

having never really recycled, having never really done any

14:33

of these things when I was living in the

14:35

city, when you wake up to

14:37

it, there's also a lot of shame around what

14:39

you haven't done for however many years you lived

14:41

on the planet, right? And once

14:43

again, when you go into that perspective, it's like, yeah, you

14:45

can focus on what you didn't do, or you can just

14:47

commit to doing one small thing a little

14:50

bit different. Or can you view this in

14:52

a different way? Or can you take one

14:54

more step to looking at the Earth as

14:56

something that you can take care of and

14:58

give back to instead of just not care

15:00

about or just not see, right? I feel

15:03

like so many of the conversations on this

15:05

podcast are about like learning to see the

15:07

Earth as nature, learning to see plants as

15:09

living things, learning to interact with them and

15:11

feel them and tune into them. And

15:13

that this conversation about eco anxiety and healing

15:15

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A Net Sermon. Yeah.

18:36

And in stuff so much that you share their that I agree

18:38

with. One thing that's really important

18:40

to note and I hope they make this a clear and

18:43

self care for eagle anxiety is that. While

18:45

the book presents south

18:47

care practices that. Will reduce

18:49

your your footprint on or authority or

18:51

like negative environmental footprint on are like

18:53

that's not what the point of this

18:55

book is. Straight leg and while this

18:57

but presents. Certain price of Care practices

18:59

that are going to when done in

19:01

large scale, have a really good impact.

19:04

On what's happening in the environment and climate change.

19:06

Again, that's not What's the point of this book

19:08

is the point of this stuff is to bring

19:10

you back into a place of a loving relationship

19:13

with earth and with yourself because one of the

19:15

things you and I talked about a lot maria

19:17

is that. Our relationship with Earth.

19:19

And nature is very much marrow with

19:21

our relationship with our own soul rate.

19:24

And that we can really utilize

19:26

our relationship with Earth with nature.

19:28

As a portal back into our

19:30

own soul, our own authenticity, our

19:33

own infinite nature. Who we truly

19:35

are. Earth Nature that it's always.

19:37

Been. That. Pathway back

19:40

home to ourselves. That's what I've.

19:42

Always believed that's what I feel that's true for me,

19:44

and I think for a lot of people listening, that's

19:46

probably true for them as well. And. I

19:48

agree with you that there can

19:50

be a level a shame and

19:53

guilt when we first seal ensue.

19:55

Oh wow. Like these actions. the

19:57

waste we create whatever it might be is having

19:59

an and on the environment. What

20:01

I want to share with that though is that

20:03

it's not the responsibility of any

20:05

single person to solve these issues.

20:08

And unfortunately, I have to say

20:10

that this kind of methodology

20:13

of pushing all the action

20:15

onto the consumer was actually

20:17

a ploy of the oil

20:19

corporations. And I remember in like

20:22

early 2010s, you can go online and you

20:24

could do your own carbon footprint

20:26

calculator. Do you remember those things?

20:29

I don't know. That was something we were doing at the

20:31

aquarium. Like you can go in and be like, I have

20:33

this many cars and we drive this many miles. And it

20:35

could be like, here's your carbon calculator. That

20:38

was not actually, that was actually

20:40

created by like the plastics and oil petroleum

20:43

companies to try and kind

20:46

of absolve themselves from their own responsibility

20:48

and push all of it onto us

20:50

as the consumer. Yes, I

20:53

believe when it comes to our relationship to

20:55

the environment, climate change, environmental destruction,

20:58

it's going to be a bottom up and

21:00

a top down. We need both. This

21:02

idea of it coming just from the

21:04

population isn't going to work with the

21:06

way that governments and corporations currently

21:09

have things created. Like the Corp,

21:11

we have to get businesses

21:13

and corporations and those people who

21:15

are actually producing so much of

21:18

the waste involved. It

21:20

can't just be pushed onto us and

21:22

the consumers. But what we can do

21:24

as the people and as the consumers

21:26

is to quote them, you know, vote

21:28

with our dollar. That

21:30

again brings in issues of classism and other things,

21:32

but we can be aware of what do we

21:35

really need? How can we get it for ourselves?

21:37

How can we create more community? How can we

21:39

start growing some of our own food? Right? There

21:42

are ways we can kind of separate

21:44

ourselves from these systems and

21:46

by doing so, let the systems know we need

21:49

you to change. Right? And I think

21:51

the book helps you do some of that. But again,

21:54

the shame and the guilt is

21:57

not from the

21:59

standpoint of medicine, it's not authentic

22:01

emotion. It's mental projected emotion

22:03

that's coming from societal conditioning.

22:05

So I think it's really

22:07

important that we state that and

22:09

note that because that

22:12

shame that we feel is impacting the

22:14

nervous system, is impacting how we feel

22:17

about our relationship to earth. And

22:19

we want to come back to

22:21

a place of feeling that reciprocal

22:23

relationship of love and generosity and

22:25

abundance and reciprocity. So yeah.

22:29

Beautiful. When it comes to the nervous

22:31

system, I mean, obviously the anxious part

22:33

is, so the symptoms of

22:35

eco anxiety, you've kind of mentioned

22:37

fear, rage, shame, sadness, all

22:40

centered around kind of the future

22:42

of the earth's well being. Those

22:44

feelings are obviously going to put

22:46

us into the fight or flight,

22:48

right? And how do we

22:50

move ourselves back into the rest and

22:52

digest the happy place? Yes.

22:54

I love this question. I just want to state

22:56

a little bit more on that because

22:58

I think we hear a lot with

23:01

the nervous system about like the sympathetic

23:03

fight or flight versus the parasympathetic rest

23:05

or digest. But when we're talking about

23:07

the nervous system, the sympathetic is our

23:09

more action oriented, like we're

23:11

going to take action in life, which when we're

23:13

in a stress place, it does lead to this

23:15

energy of fighting something or fleeing from it, running

23:18

away from it. The parasympathetic is

23:20

more of that rest or digest, but

23:22

when it's in its space of

23:24

dealing with stress, it will lead to

23:26

what we call fawn, which is very

23:28

much people pleasing and overwhelm

23:30

or freeze, which is

23:33

depression, apathy, paralysis. So

23:35

we can get stuck on either

23:37

side of those aspects of

23:39

our nervous system. And what we

23:41

want to do is be able to kind

23:44

of regulate and titrate and move between them.

23:46

So often when we think about equal anxiety,

23:48

if we're in that place of fear or

23:50

rage, we're going to

23:53

be talking about the sympathetic. And in fact,

23:55

one of some of the first self care

23:57

practices I share in the book are all

23:59

about How can we actually move

24:01

through this feeling of anger that we

24:03

feel about to governments and businesses for

24:05

them? Putting profits

24:07

and before people and planet and

24:09

all those things like can we actually allow

24:11

ourselves to feel that anger feel that rage?

24:14

Express it process it instead of just like

24:17

holding it inside because you just mentioned that

24:19

like what would be a healthy way to

24:21

meet because I think instead of bypassing the

24:23

emotion to actually meet it and release it

24:25

what would be a healthy way to do

24:27

that So let's say we're doing with rage.

24:29

Okay, like let's say we're just feeling a

24:31

lot of rage against governments around businesses around

24:33

the plastic Lobby, you know like all of

24:35

it, right? There's a lot

24:37

of ways we can release rage You can use a pillow

24:39

scream into a pillow hitter pillow One of my favorite ways

24:42

is to actually go outside You

24:44

can stand near a tree on your plants and I do

24:46

this thing where I kind of tighten up like

24:48

every from my feet all the way to the

24:50

top of my head tighten and squeeze and let

24:52

myself feel that anger and squeeze it and squeeze

24:54

it and squeeze it and then I just Let

24:58

it go and as I let it go I imagine all that

25:00

anger Leaving my body

25:02

and going down into earth now. I

25:05

know if some people said to me. I

25:07

don't want earth take my anger That's not

25:09

fair. I don't want to give earth my

25:11

shit, you know, but like what is compost?

25:15

What does earth do with

25:17

organic matter that's waste She

25:20

has the beautiful reciprocal symbiotic relationships

25:22

with fungi and bacteria and all

25:25

kinds of things to turn that

25:27

waste Into growth material again. So

25:29

as you're releasing into earth,

25:31

you can imagine yourself emotionally

25:33

composting Just through letting

25:36

that anger letting that rage go

25:38

into earth knowing earth will alchemize

25:40

that back into energy for action

25:43

energy for life Right.

25:46

So and you can do that a few times.

25:48

I typically do that like squeezing tightening Anger

25:51

feeling like three or four breaths

25:53

until when I try and squeeze and tighten I'm like,

25:55

oh, I don't feel that charge anymore So

25:57

that's like a really easy And

26:00

you can do it outside, you could do it inside. That's

26:02

a good one for rage. If

26:05

you're feeling a lot of fear, I

26:07

know this might seem really counterintuitive, but

26:09

like actually letting yourself run in place

26:11

really, really fast. Let yourself go through

26:14

that, I'm actually

26:16

fleeing. Like let your body actually

26:18

go through that full practice of

26:20

it and then be like, oh, how do I feel

26:23

on the other end? Another great

26:25

one for flight in particular is if

26:28

you're, you can use a wall if you're inside, but if you're outside

26:30

and you have a tree, I love doing this with a tree,

26:32

but like pushing against a

26:34

tree as hard as you can, like

26:37

pushing back is

26:39

a really good one to also kind of get

26:41

some of those energies of fleeing or even some

26:43

of those energies of feeling brave enough to turn

26:46

around and face the thing you're fleeing from.

26:48

Right? So these are

26:51

some somatic practices to let

26:53

the body actually feel and

26:55

digest these emotions as opposed

26:57

to holding them tight inside,

26:59

which leads to trauma in the body.

27:03

Yeah. Festering and that

27:05

like horrible 3am wake up. Yep.

27:08

For me, it's usually four to five, but yep. So

27:11

those are more in like the sympathetic side of

27:13

the nervous system. If we're doing things

27:15

that are more like for freeze or

27:18

fawn, when we're in fawn,

27:20

which is really that people pleasing place,

27:22

when we're kind of like, we're putting our own

27:24

needs aside for other people's. I

27:27

love doing a practice for fawning and I

27:29

do this next to either my bigger house

27:31

plants or a tree outside where I imagine

27:33

myself as a seed. And then as I

27:35

breathe, I grow and I get bigger and

27:37

bigger and bigger and just let myself feel

27:39

as if I'm taking up as much space

27:41

as the tree to just feel

27:43

myself take up space. It's okay to

27:45

take up space. And I like

27:48

to use the metaphor of the trees and plants.

27:50

So like really imagining myself as I'm

27:52

stretching upwards, imagining my energetic roots growing

27:54

into ground and really stretching as the

27:57

rest of me stretches outward and just

27:59

taking more space. Those

28:02

are some examples. I have more examples in the book,

28:04

but the first five practices

28:06

in this book are really about

28:09

working with the nervous system and

28:11

providing some somatic practices that either

28:13

have you imagining your relationship with

28:16

nature or have

28:18

you actively in nature doing

28:20

these somatic practices to

28:22

help you feel like you

28:24

can hold more of this charge in your body.

28:27

Yeah, the taking up space one reminds me

28:29

back in my performing days when I was

28:32

auditioning, I would power pose before

28:34

I went into the audition. And there's

28:36

all sorts of scientific, either have been so

28:38

many studies done on power posing and confidence

28:40

and literally power posing is taking up space.

28:42

It's very similar. So I'm like, Oh, wow,

28:44

look at that. That's kind of

28:46

the same thing. But I love that visual of

28:48

becoming a tree and spreading to

28:50

the light and allowing the light to maybe

28:52

be more positivity and working your way kind

28:55

of up the ladder of those emotions so

28:57

that sometimes I feel like just

28:59

finding neutrality is such a gift. It's like

29:02

not that we're even going to be so

29:04

positive, but even just to find neutrality and

29:06

not have the anxiety anymore can be such

29:08

a win, you know, so even just getting

29:10

all of that out so you can just

29:12

feel no charge instead

29:14

of expecting a

29:16

positive charge, you know, because I think

29:18

for a lot of us, that's probably going to be harder.

29:20

And your book you talk about this

29:23

mother tree. I just wanted to say I love

29:25

that what you shared about acceptance and like that

29:27

neutrality. I think it's really important because I think

29:29

again, we're not trying to say ignore

29:32

reality, like the reality at play is this is shitty.

29:34

You know what I mean? Like the reality at play

29:36

is that we have to change our ways. The reality

29:38

is like things need to change, right? But

29:41

that being said, we can

29:43

still go outside and be like,

29:45

wow, it's gorgeous out. Look at the

29:47

flowers blooming. Look at the birds singing like the

29:49

sun shining, like all of that is still true

29:51

and it's still existing and it still has beautiful

29:54

energy for us to take in right here and now. And

29:56

in fact, being able to do

29:58

that, being able to open. to that

30:00

energy of what is here right now is

30:02

what we need to actually help us move

30:05

into the action we need to take for

30:07

the future. So yeah,

30:10

really important. Totally. I love

30:12

it. In your book, you talk about the mother

30:14

tree. And I love

30:17

this because also earlier when you were

30:19

talking about how one person is not

30:21

going to solve the problem, it

30:23

is going to be a communal experience from

30:25

the top down from the bottom up. But

30:27

also we are going to solve this in

30:29

community. And there's this beautiful chapter

30:31

on the mother tree in your book. Will you tell

30:34

us a little bit more about this kind of, I

30:36

don't know if it's a theory or the idea of

30:38

the mother tree? Yeah, I mean,

30:40

I think it's scientific fact at this

30:42

point, there's this beautiful book called Finding

30:44

the Mother Tree by Dr. Susan Simard.

30:46

Yeah, Suzanne Simard. Love

30:49

her. Love her so much.

30:51

So that's where I really got this

30:53

concept. I don't think she's the only

30:55

forest ecologist who came to this conclusion

30:58

through their research. But that's the book I read.

31:00

So that's who I know it from. I

31:02

used to talk about the book to over story so much. It's

31:04

one of my favorite books. And I'm pretty

31:06

sure one of the main characters in the

31:09

over story, which is fiction is based off

31:11

of Suzanne Simard as well. I'm pretty sure.

31:13

Oh, anyway, I digress. I'm not sure. But

31:15

I also I was listening to that book and I didn't get all

31:17

the way through. But isn't it like little vignettes of different people? And

31:20

that book? Yes, but it's the vignettes

31:22

that I carry throughout the entire book.

31:24

Okay, I had to finish it. And

31:26

she's one of the main Yeah, oh

31:28

gosh, it was so good. Anyway, Suzanne

31:30

Simard, the mother tree. I

31:33

digress back back on track. That would make sense. That

31:35

would make a lot of sense. Yeah. I

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35:46

Okay, so she was an ecologist who actually worked

35:48

for the forestry system in Canada. So

35:50

she was working for the businesses that

35:53

were cutting down trees. And her role

35:55

was to try and help them

35:57

replant baby trees and have those grow

35:59

really. fast. And in her research,

36:01

she was finding that like the trees they were planting were

36:03

not growing as quickly as they expected them to. And so

36:06

she was trying to figure out like what's going on here.

36:08

And so she, of course, being an ecologist was like what's

36:10

going on in the root system, because that is what's

36:12

going to govern how plants are growing. And the

36:15

way that the forestry services were working

36:17

was like plant as much of the

36:19

tree we want as possible and get rid of

36:21

everything else because everything else is competing with the

36:23

trees we actually want. That's what

36:25

their initial thought was. But what Suzanne

36:28

found in her research was that this

36:30

is actually worse for the forest. And

36:32

it's creating a situation with a lack

36:34

of biodiversity that's making it hard for

36:36

these trees to grow. And anyway,

36:39

long story short, she discovered that forest

36:41

communities are not in competition as

36:43

much as they are in community

36:45

and collaboration. And the way that

36:48

they collaborate is through an interconnected

36:50

root system called the Mycelium

36:52

network, which is interconnected fungi and bacteria

36:54

that create these lice-like structures that connect

36:57

the roots of different plants with each

36:59

other and share information and resources. And

37:02

what she discovered is that in the forest,

37:04

in healthy forest ecosystems, there are

37:06

larger, older trees that

37:08

become these hubs of

37:11

information and resources for the

37:13

trees around them. And

37:16

they are the mother trees

37:18

and they can send extra

37:20

water, resources, chemical information, which

37:22

is communication, to other

37:25

trees. They can tell the difference

37:27

between trees that are their actual

37:29

progeny, like their children versus other

37:31

species of plants and trees. And

37:33

they can make a choice in like

37:35

leaner years to divert that

37:38

extra resources just to their

37:40

own progeny. But

37:43

most of the time in a healthy forest

37:45

system, they're sending resources and receiving resources

37:48

from the whole community. But it's

37:50

these mother trees that are kind of

37:52

like the central hubs of this information

37:54

and sending out most of the additional

37:56

resources. And it's just,

37:59

for me, it was so confirming to read

38:02

about this, to recognize that this

38:04

idea of it all being competition

38:07

never sat right with me because

38:10

it wasn't accurate, that in fact

38:12

we're all interconnected and that is

38:15

seen in the forest systems as

38:17

well. And yes, while there is

38:19

some forms of competition in terms

38:21

of sunlight and resources, in truth

38:23

is there is a community and

38:25

they are interconnected, they're

38:28

in relationship with each

38:30

other, they care about

38:32

each other, they're sentient beings these plants and they

38:34

know they're in community and that when we try

38:36

and strip it away and create

38:38

a situation where we're only trying to grow

38:41

one species, the

38:43

community suffers and the species

38:45

itself can't grow as well as it

38:47

would have if we had let the

38:49

biodiversity remain. So the mother tree is

38:52

this beautiful reminder for us that we

38:54

are meant to live in

38:56

community, in collaboration, interconnected

39:00

and that when we do so

39:02

we provide more thriving for

39:04

our whole community, for our whole

39:06

forest. Yeah, it's

39:08

so beautiful. I mean it's a metaphor on so

39:10

many different levels because obviously like

39:13

what you said in community also it

39:15

makes me think about the dispersal of

39:17

information, having these like elders or

39:20

knowledge holders about any topic but

39:22

even this concept, right, global warming,

39:24

climate change, educating people and

39:26

supporting people who don't know to learn and

39:28

grow stronger and I think that's so interesting.

39:31

And then it goes to another topic that

39:33

you talk about in your book and that

39:35

you and I have talked about at length

39:37

on multiple podcasts is the Mycelium network

39:39

and how they even work

39:42

in community with fungi which are

39:44

completely different kingdom but that they

39:46

work in community and these fungi,

39:49

the Mycelium network actually is what

39:51

helps transport sugars and waters and

39:53

whatever they need like they're the

39:55

transportation vehicle between these trees which

39:58

also I feel like when talking about how

40:00

this problem is going to get

40:03

solved at a global level, where

40:05

this mycelium network of people who

40:07

are taking the right next step

40:09

to bring more equilibrium back to

40:11

the planet, to bring more positivity

40:14

back to the planet. And I'm

40:16

curious from like a gardener's perspective,

40:19

from a house plant parents perspective, your book

40:21

has like 60, 50 exercises, 52 exercises.

40:25

52, one for every week of the year. Right.

40:28

So for people who are attending their

40:30

gardens, people who are attending their house

40:32

plants, what are some beautiful

40:34

actions that we can take to give

40:36

back to Mother Nature to soothe ourselves

40:38

while soothing her? You know, obviously composting,

40:40

we just had a whole episode on

40:43

composting. So go listen to that. That

40:45

I feel like is very

40:47

low hanging fruit. But what else can we leave

40:49

with a couple of different practices that people might

40:51

want to try in their gardens or with their

40:53

house plants this week? Yeah, well, first of all,

40:56

I want to tell you if you are tending

40:58

to a garden, if you're attending to house plants,

41:00

you are already giving back to earth, just the

41:02

fact that you have house plants and are caring

41:05

for them and tending to them and having that

41:07

reciprocal relationship is already an act of giving back

41:09

to yourself and to earth. And just because you

41:11

have a garden and you care for it,

41:13

I can't even tell you the physical benefits

41:15

of gardening. Like there's so many physical health

41:17

benefits of gardening. And then of course, the

41:20

mental and emotional, energetic benefits. And what you're doing for

41:22

the planet as well. So when

41:24

it comes to things like gardening

41:26

at home, whether you're in outdoors

41:28

or indoors, the first and foremost, you can

41:31

look at the fertilizers and pesticides you're

41:33

using and really go

41:35

for cleaner, greener, organic

41:37

options. Every now and then we might

41:40

need to use something more systemic. I know you've

41:42

had lots of conversations on your podcast about this,

41:44

Maria, you've educated a lot about that. So people

41:46

can listen. And I'm sure there's a lot of

41:48

resources you have on the podcast for that. But

41:50

one of the things I like

41:52

to do is really strictly

41:54

only use organic fertilizers. I'm

41:56

very, very sparing with any

41:59

form of pesticides. I tend

42:01

to go for Castile soaps and like

42:03

neem oil and things like that first

42:05

and foremost before doing anything that might

42:07

have to be stronger than that. I'm

42:10

also okay with a certain amount of pests

42:12

as long as they're not pestulent, I guess.

42:14

There's a certain

42:17

amount of just acceptance for it. So there's

42:19

one way. Another thing that you can do,

42:21

especially if you're an outdoor gardener,

42:24

pollinator gardens. Oh my goodness. Like

42:26

pollinator gardens are going to be

42:28

so powerful. And especially when

42:30

we think about like butterflies, for example,

42:33

like the monarch who are migratory

42:35

species, having these

42:38

little habitats spread

42:40

throughout the globe that is safe

42:42

for them actually makes a big

42:44

impact. So what we

42:46

do in our gardens, especially

42:49

for migratory species, makes

42:51

a big impact. So making sure

42:53

that you stop using pesticides, herbicides

42:55

in your outdoor gardens, especially if you're

42:57

trying to call in pollinators, things that

42:59

could affect the bees, the butterflies, some

43:02

of the birds, that would

43:04

be huge. And then just creating

43:06

an invitation for these species

43:09

that are beneficial, not just for

43:11

your own garden, but for the world at

43:13

large, creating that invitation in your own space

43:15

for them. Then I have two different practices

43:17

in the book about creating pollinator gardens. One

43:20

is just like planting a pollinator garden and

43:22

the other is going a little kamikaze and

43:24

creating these, I call them wildflower seed bombs

43:26

that you can like throw an empty field

43:28

and stuff. So

43:31

you can get a little like totally. I've

43:33

made those before so fun. So fun to do with

43:35

kids as well. Yeah. Urban gorilla

43:38

gardening. Oh my God, so fun with

43:40

kids. Also birds. I

43:42

know you love birds, Maria. I

43:44

love birds as well. I actually have a

43:47

whole episode, I believe next month coming

43:49

out. So make sure you're subscribed plant friends, but

43:51

we have a whole episode on bird friendly gardening.

43:53

It's one of the funnest interviews I've done all

43:55

year, all about how to attract more

43:57

bird species to your garden. I mean, there's

43:59

so much. you can do. There's so

44:01

much. Right. Even if you're not

44:03

a gardener, even if you're just a houseplant parent, you

44:06

probably have a window box. You probably have a little

44:08

balcony. Maybe you have a local community garden you can

44:10

go to, but there's so much that you can do

44:12

by just planting a few pollinator

44:14

plants or eliminating your food

44:16

scraps or doing something more productive with your

44:18

food scraps than just throwing them in the

44:21

garbage. Like there really is, there are so

44:23

many actions you can take to give back.

44:25

And in urban areas now too, in cities

44:28

and places like that now too, there's so

44:30

many community gardens. So even if you're not

44:32

composting in your own place, you can maybe even

44:34

gather up compost and bring it to one of

44:36

these community gardens that is composting. Sometimes

44:39

even schools are doing that as

44:41

well. So another thing you

44:43

can do is there's more and more waste management

44:45

companies that are taking your compost as

44:47

green waste. So you can also petition

44:49

your, whatever your regional waste management is

44:51

to be like, Hey, we want to

44:54

be able to provide compost

44:56

along with the green waste because a

44:58

lot of the waste management is realizing,

45:00

first of all, not only do we have to

45:03

do this because it's going to be better for

45:05

the environment, but there's actually an economic incentive for

45:07

them to do it as well. Because if we

45:09

can create nice clean, healthy soil, that's going to

45:11

be good because soil health is

45:13

another big, big issue when we're talking about

45:16

the health of the planet. And that's why

45:18

composting is so important and also why the

45:20

mycelium network is so important. And

45:23

being able to do things like companion

45:25

planting, being aware of the plants you're

45:27

planting and being biodiverse with

45:29

what you're choosing to plant as well has

45:31

a big impact. Yeah. So

45:34

those are some things we can do for

45:36

Mother Earth. And then if we are struggling

45:38

with eco anxiety, if we do get hit

45:40

with the pang of eco anxiety, let's wrap

45:43

up with one. What's your favorite practice in

45:45

the book for bringing yourself back

45:47

down out of an eco anxiety spiral?

45:50

Okay, I'm going to answer that question. And then I want

45:52

to answer, I want to share just a little something about

45:54

the book as well. Okay, so my favorite practice from the

45:56

book for I mean, I honestly,

45:58

it's, it's going to be the mother tree one. So

46:01

I mentioned like what the mother tree is, but

46:03

what I share in the book is that we

46:05

as humans actually have our own mother trees.

46:07

So there's like the biological mother tree in

46:10

the forest, but then there's like our energetic

46:12

mother trees, which are those trees that just

46:14

speak to us. I don't know about and you know

46:16

about you Maria, but for all of you

46:19

who are listening like I have favorite trees

46:21

on my walks, on my property, the

46:23

ones that I they're just like louder to

46:25

me, the ones that I feel a strong

46:27

connection with. These are our mother trees. And

46:29

so what I share in the book is

46:31

this guided meditation to basically connect in with

46:33

one or all of your

46:35

mother trees all at once, energetically,

46:38

and to just breathe with them

46:40

and then ask them to send the guidance to

46:43

you. Ask them to send any messages,

46:45

any with them, because trees are wise.

46:47

They are sentient, they are

46:50

old, they are wise. And

46:53

when there is a tree that we feel

46:55

an affinity for, it's because that

46:57

tree also has an affinity for us. So

47:00

we can be aware of that and really

47:02

call upon their sentience, their

47:04

consciousness, and bring it into

47:06

our own daily experience. So that's something I do

47:10

often, like really often,

47:12

like probably daily. And then

47:15

the other thing I wanted to share briefly about the book,

47:17

just to talk a little bit about its structure, is that

47:20

when it comes, like if you are feeling

47:23

really eco-anxious, what I suggest before you go

47:25

into, I'll have to do some kind of

47:27

action that's going to be better for the

47:29

planet, I would suggest first

47:31

connecting, which is why I'd say mother tree,

47:34

that mother tree practice is my favorite. Before

47:36

we go into a place of giving back,

47:39

and this is the way I've structured the

47:41

book, we first want to connect and create

47:43

that co-creative relationship again. So the

47:45

way this book is structured is I first

47:47

just kind of define what is eco-anxiety, why

47:50

is it a problem, and then I share

47:52

52 nature-based

47:54

self-care practices, but those are divided

47:56

into three larger

47:58

themes. The first eight... are

48:00

all about connecting with Earth

48:02

again, bringing back the awareness

48:05

of this relationship we have with Earth. So this

48:07

is where we talk about nervous system, the mother

48:09

tree. I even have a guided meditation for connecting

48:11

with the Mycelium network, which is another thing I

48:14

love to do. Yeah, love it.

48:17

One of the practices for the connection is

48:19

also connecting with your indigenous

48:21

roots, understanding what are the indigenous

48:24

roots of the land you currently live on, what are your own

48:26

indigenous roots, because all humans have some

48:28

form of indigeneity as well, right? So

48:30

even that is a form of connection.

48:32

I think that's really important because

48:35

it's important for us to note that

48:37

humans have been able to and actually

48:39

lived for thousands and thousands of years

48:41

in relationship, in sacred relationship and harmony

48:43

with Earth. And it's important for us

48:45

to remember that as we're moving forward, right? Then

48:47

the second half of the book

48:49

is all about co-creating with Earth.

48:51

So this is your bio-philic design,

48:53

styling with plants, gardening, making art,

48:56

flower crowns

48:58

like you love. I don't have this one in here,

49:00

but I have plant arrangements, herbal teas,

49:02

even cooking, cooking

49:04

with more plants, right? All of this is

49:06

co-creating with nature. And then the

49:08

final section of the book, the final 18 practices

49:11

are giving back. This is

49:14

composting, planting a pollinator garden,

49:16

providing the habitat for birds, things

49:18

like that. And I

49:20

suggest that people start off with

49:23

connecting and co-creating because then you're

49:25

in a place of love, of

49:27

possibility, of health and

49:29

wellness and like expansion. And from there,

49:32

it's really easy to go into a

49:34

place of giving back without falling back

49:36

into patterns of anxiety or fear or

49:38

overwhelm or shame or guilt or any

49:40

of that. Yeah. Even the

49:43

energy of like planting the pollinator garden from

49:45

a space of gratitude, receptivity, collaboration is very

49:47

different than planting a pollinator garden from a

49:49

place of, if I don't do this, the

49:51

world's going to end or if I don't

49:53

do this, I'm the worst person. Or if

49:55

I don't do this, you know, I'm

49:57

not doing enough. Like those are two very different

49:59

containers. probably one thing in

50:01

your book that I loved that I actually had been

50:04

thinking about. I visited my friend last week in Seattle.

50:07

She has elements of nature all throughout

50:09

her house. Like she has garlands of

50:11

leaves that she has made strung throughout

50:13

her house. She has pine cones

50:15

and moss on her mantle. She has

50:17

just dried flowers everywhere and it's stuff

50:19

that she just gets on her walk

50:21

with her kid and brings it back. But

50:23

she has turned nature into

50:25

such art in her home in such a

50:28

reverent way. And I was

50:30

like, gosh, I want to do more of this when

50:32

I get back because it's just such a nice way

50:34

of living with nature that's beyond

50:36

houseplants. Like for me, I have so many

50:38

houseplants in my house, but I don't have

50:41

garlands of dried flowers, you know, hanging

50:43

over my door frame or a really

50:45

cool stick in the corner. Yeah, exactly.

50:49

Which is another chapter of your book. But for me,

50:51

that's what I'll pledge at the end of this episode.

50:53

That's definitely one of the steps that I'm looking to

50:56

incorporate more because I also feel like if you

50:58

see nature more, like if I see these dried

51:00

flowers and these sticks, I'm just going to be

51:03

thinking about the earth more. And that's

51:05

also just so important in terms of

51:07

that connection side. So you spoke a

51:09

little bit about the book. What's the

51:11

title? Where can you get it? Tell

51:13

us everything. Yeah, okay. So the title

51:15

of the book is Self-Care for Eco-Anxiety.

51:17

And then it has a long subtitle,

51:19

52 weekly practices for positive personal change

51:21

through the power of nature. The book

51:23

is out now. And you can find

51:26

it pretty much wherever books are sold,

51:28

Barnes and noble.com, amazon.com, target.com. There's I

51:30

think also like book hub, some of

51:32

Sifu want more indie options as well.

51:35

You can find it there. You can

51:37

also find it on my website. If you

51:39

like signed copy of books, I have signed

51:41

copies of all my books, you can get

51:43

through my website as well. And my website

51:45

is our infinite nature.co. You

51:47

can find me on Instagram at

51:50

our infinite nature Raquel. I

51:52

am on TikTok is the same. And

51:54

I will be having more coming out

51:56

around like sharing a lot more around

51:58

this book as well. I'm

52:00

sure you'll be hearing a lot more from me this

52:02

month. Yes, absolutely. You're

52:05

the best. I enjoy, I'm so thankful for

52:07

all these wonderful conversations we're having this year

52:09

on the podcast. So yes, go get the

52:11

book, go follow Raquel, so much more coming.

52:14

And yeah, thanks Raquel. As per usual, you're the

52:17

best. Oh, you're the best. Thanks for

52:19

having me. I love it. Thank

52:21

you so much, Raquel. I love

52:23

Raquel so much and she's on the podcast a lot this

52:25

year. And I hope you love her as much as I

52:27

do. Let me know if this was helpful. Let me know

52:30

if you struggle from eco anxiety. We're going to be doing

52:32

a bunch of posts about eco anxiety on Instagram at Growing

52:34

Joy with Maria. And go check

52:36

out Raquel's book. It's called Self Care for

52:38

Eco Anxiety. It's super giftable. It's like beautifully

52:40

designed. It's wherever books are sold. And

52:43

you can follow her at our infinite

52:45

nature, Raquel on Instagram and then our

52:48

infinite nature.com. But the book

52:50

has 52 practices for positive personal change

52:52

through the power of nature. Raquel will

52:54

be back for our summer solstice episode

52:56

in a month or so. And

52:59

until next time, my sweet plant friends, I hope

53:01

you keep growing joy. Plant

53:05

friends, thank you for tuning in today. It means so

53:07

much to me that I get to be part

53:09

of your planty journey. If you

53:12

like what you heard, make sure you're subscribed to the show

53:14

so you never miss an episode. We

53:16

have so many incredible interviews and solo episodes

53:18

on incredible houseplant and gardening topics that you

53:20

will not want to miss this year. And

53:22

while you're over there in the podcast player

53:25

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53:27

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53:29

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53:31

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53:49

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54:02

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54:04

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54:31

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Make new plant friends, propagate knowledge, and

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Take plant friends, there is no

56:58

one right starter plant. There, I

57:00

said it. And you know what?

57:03

While I'm at it, there are also no real plant killers in the

57:05

world. There are just people who

57:07

have not figured out their right plants

57:09

for their lifestyle. This is

57:11

why I created the free plant parent personality

57:13

test. Because plant friend, I want you to

57:16

get thriving alongside your house plants as quickly

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as possible. So I made this

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cutie little plant parent personality quiz that's totally

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free for you on my website to take

57:25

the guesswork out of building your plant

57:27

collection effortlessly and joyfully. After speaking to

57:29

thousands of members in our community, I

57:31

realized that there are about five key

57:33

plant parent personalities, each one with their

57:36

unique set of strengths, weaknesses, and

57:38

a unique set of plants that thrive under their

57:40

care. For example, a mindful plant parent, someone who

57:42

wants to engage with their plants daily, use

57:44

them in their morning routines. If someone gifted that

57:47

plant parent a succulent and they watered it every

57:49

day, that succulent would die immediately. However,

57:52

that drought resistant succulent is a perfect

57:54

match for a low key plant parent,

57:56

which is someone who travels, has kids,

57:58

is busy, doesn't have time to engage

58:00

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58:02

plants more like once a week or once every couple of

58:04

weeks. In addition, obviously, to understanding

58:06

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58:08

provide on this podcast, Happy Plant Parenthood is

58:11

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58:13

the right health plans to go with it.

58:16

It's that simple. No more stressing over your collection.

58:18

So what plant parent personality type are you, plant

58:20

friend? All you got to do to find out

58:22

is take my free quiz on my website and

58:24

let me know. You can

58:27

access it at

58:29

growingjoywithmaria.com/personality. After taking the

58:31

test, you'll get an email with a

58:33

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58:35

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58:42

that's growingjoywithmaria.com/personality for your free plant

58:44

parent personality test results.