The Grass Really Is Greener Over There…

July 31, 2020

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Some weeks back I posted about the “grass is greener” fallacy.

We only think someone else’s lawn is better.

It may appear greener, but up close, it’s likely not much different than ours.

I advised my readers to tend to their own lawn, rather than long for their neighbor’s.

(And we’re using the word “lawn” here, liberally. Or symbolically. Metaphorically. Something like that.)

Whatever. I wasn’t necessarily talking about your lawn, but those things others have that we covet: the seemingly better relationship, job, bikini body…

(You got that, right? I mean, it’s not like I was really blogging about a “hot dog” or an “avocado” either…) 

Except that today I AM talking about a lawn.

And that the grass IS greener somewhere else.

Because I’m talking about MY lawn.

It’s been a dry summer. And hot. It’s fucking hot. I sweat through my clothes just stepping outside. This makes me stay inside. You cannot do lawn care from inside the house.

We’d need to water night and day to keep the lawn green. And that seems excessive and wasteful. Also expensive.

So we do the bare minimum.

The lawn right now is pretty brown.

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The Sad State Of The Lawn

Also, I noticed some weeds. I’d pull them, but they just come back and there’s more over there, and it’s SO HOT out, so why bother?

Turns out weeds grow like… well… weeds.

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You skip a day, you might not notice it.

You skip a few weeks and the entire lawn is made up of weeds.

I could pull from dawn to dusk (or dusk to dawn, it’s cooler at night) and still not clear the lawn of its hair-like shroud of weeds. (Pulling them sounds like ripping hair and is oddly satisfying…)

But three doors away is a neighbor whose lawn is meticulously cared for.

It is a beautiful green carpet.

Next to it, mine looks like a derelict lot.

It isn’t my imagination. The grass really IS greener over there.

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A Representation Of My Neighbor’S Lush Lawn

Am I green with envy?

Yep.

Did I do what I needed to do in order to keep my lawn from looking like it’s owned by a woman too lazy to go outside and get her hands dirty and sweat profusely?

Nope.

While it might have taken 15-20 minutes a day for weed removal and general lawn upkeep, it would now take 15-20 days and an expensive garden pro to dig up the entire plot and reseed it.

My point being…

TAKE CARE OF YOUR LAWN.

(Whatever your “lawn” is. A liberal, symbolical or metaphorical use of the word. I mean, I wasn’t really talking about a “ladybug” or an “eagle” either…)

Back to your lawn:

If you don’t tend to the daily weeds, they tend to multiply until they take over.

Thinking those weeds will just disappear on their own?

You don’t know how weeds work. You must be smoking some pretty serious weed.

That’s my final weed joke. So I’ll leave you with this:

Do the work. (And read “If You Build It, You Have to Maintain It” because there must be something to do in Freeport…)

You want green grass?

Get back to your garden.

Valerie gordon old headshot the grass really is greener over there... Valerie Gordon uses the power of story to train and motivate groups and audiences on how to grow their careers and their businesses, like those fast-growing weeds. A former Emmy-wining television producer, she’s the founder of career and communications firm The Storytelling Strategist and the Commander-in-She blog.  

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