Adversity vs Adoration #AtoZChallenge

Tags

#AtoZChallenge, A to Z Challenge 2016, A-Z Blogging Challenge, Damyanti Biswas, house plants, mother-in-law's tongue, orchids, Project Why, Rottweilers, Samuel Johnson, writing

P is for plant.

I love houseplants. There’s not as much weeding involved as with plants out in the garden (and the Hadedas can’t attack them and for the most part my Rottweilers can’t unearth them). Still, is it nature or nurture or just circumstantial that some grow and some die?

My orchids a few days after I got them. Now there’s nothing left…

I’ve been thinking a lot about how circumstances influence writing.

Perhaps Damyanti’s #AtoZChallenge posts about Project Why have been influencing me too…

Anyhow, back to me. I’m really not good at keeping plants alive. It’s gotten so bad, that my dad took all my houseplants away to save them from me. Now, all of a sudden, they’re no longer dying but thriving. And as far as I can tell, he’s only giving them water. So how are they magically growing under his care, while committing suicide under my watch? Apparently plants are like chickens: either they like you or they don’t. (I’ve had chickens commit suicide via Rottweiler because they didn’t like me…)

Apparently I should stick to succulents (though judging by the state of my garden – which I totally blame on Hadedas, not on my black thumb – the succulents are way better off away from me). Perhaps I should get snakeskin or mother-in-law’s tongue (same plant, different patterns on leaf)…

So, writing: are you the kind of writer who will die if I give you too much or too little attention?

Mother-in-law’s tongue (1 ) or orchid (2 ):

which houseplant are you? One that flourishes under adversity (1) or adoration (2)?

The first will only make flowers when it feels its very survival depends on it. The second only flowers when properly nurtured.

Though I am posing this question on writing, it can be asked about anything in your life. So just substitute “writing” with whatever is more important to you (though I can’t think of anything right now).

 

Click on image to see in a bigger size. PS it will take you to another site (Dropbox), but you can click back to this window 🙂

Congratulations, you’ve just learned something about yourself. (I hope.)

 

“Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.” – Samuel Johnson

 

So which plant are you? Or are you a bit of both? Writers’ emotions are in a constant state of flux, so it’s okay to be tough today and at other times a little insecure. Do you have a green thumb? Or do you kill plants by merely looking at them?

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