If You Feel Buried...

February 23, 2023

By: Erin Suhajda

I LOVE gardening. One of my first memories is picking Forget-Me-Nots in my grandmother’s garden each summer. Despite the Ice Storm we had this week in Milwaukee, my mind has been focused on planning my garden for this summer. For those without a green thumb, you might be surprised to discover some flowers can take 10-12 weeks to sprout from seeds and are actually planted on some of the coldest winter days so they are ready to shine come spring each year.

The thing I love most about gardening is that it mirrors the world around us in more ways than you might think. To ensure you have healthy, blossoming flowers, you must prune back the most beautiful ones. It seems counterintuitive. Why would I cut off the best part of the plant? Won’t it ruin everything? It pains me to “deadhead” or “pinch” my dahlias early in the season, but it is the only way for them to grow into their full potential. By cutting off healthy branches, it sends a message to the base of the plant to grow as fast as it can to replace what it lost. Believe it or not, it will 4x the amount of flowers you get from the plant later in the season.

The funny thing is, it’s the same in life, in business, and in your relationships. Sometimes we have to make sacrifices, take a risk, or cut people out of our lives that no longer serve us. It’s PAINFUL. It doesn’t seem to make sense. We try to find any other easier option. But it is the only way to grow into the people we are destined to be.

When I first started my professional career, every day felt like I was drinking from a fire hose. So much information. Acronyms. Metrics to meet. After my first week, I bought myself a new water bottle. I had it customized with the quote “Pressure makes diamonds”. Diamonds are similar to flowers in that they need the perfect condition to create such a beautiful thing. Here’s the science behind it:

A diamond requires a certain amount of pressure to bring it fully to life. Without this pressure, diamonds couldn’t exist…

It takes around 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit and 825,000 pounds per square inch in pressure. Add in the carbon and the diamond seed that provides the foundation, to form a raw diamond. (Eterneva)

Due to the immense pressure that is present in this part of the earth, as well as the extreme temperatures, a diamond gradually begins to form. The entire process takes between 1 billion and 3.3 billion years, which is approximately 25% to 75% of our earth’s age. (Leibish).

PRESSURE MAKES DIAMONDS 💎

It was my daily reminder that to get where I wanted to go, I had to do what I had never done before. I sacrificed my time after work spending a few extra hours studying, prepping for the next day, or listening to podcasts and audio books to grow my knowledge. What I did in my first few months in the role set me up for success for all the years to come. It didn’t feel fun in the moment, but looking back I’m so glad I did it.

The most beautiful blooms take weeks, even months, to fully develop. It all starts with a seed. It needs the right environment, the right soil, the right amount of light for that type of plant. All the conditions have to be right. When it comes to plants, you never expect a flower to bloom before it is ready. So why are we so hard on ourselves when we don’t achieve our goals overnight? So let’s treat ourselves and our goals like a garden…

First, you must make sure you have everything you need to bloom:

• Do you have the right environment?

• Who do you have in your life to support your growth?

• Are you giving yourself the right fuel?

• Are you giving enough light to your goals?

Your environment can be your workplace, your location, or the social network you surround yourself with. Your fuel is what you consume in your life- Are you eating healthy? Are you following people that are positive influences on your life on Social Media? Do you take time for you? The light is the time you spend working towards your goal. You could have everything else right, but if you don’t take the time for your goals, they will never be accomplished. I’ll even dare you to consider: Maybe if you feel like you’ve been buried, you’ve actually just been planted.

Sources

“How Long Does a Diamond Take to Form?” Leibish, https://www.leibish.com/how-long-does-a-diamond-take-to-form-article-1447.

“How Much Pressure Does It Take to Make a Diamond?” ?, https://www.eterneva.com/resources/how-much-pressure-to-make-a-diamond.