Purity and Peace of Mind: People and Plants
Nurturing a plant will be like nurturing a child or pet that doesn’t demand as much attention. Plants only need water, soil, sunlight and a space for the roots breathe.
College is about education. The greatest lesson college teaches students is how to take care of themselves. Prerequisites include self-care, responsibility, accountability and communication. Exercising these pre-requisites manifests itself in a plethora of places and propagating plants may be the overlooked elective in the class of life.
College students have to manage occupations, course work, social lives, nutrition, sleep and peace of mind in a 24 hour day. Apparently, these things become second nature to the seasoned life-veterans, but to kids who’re thrown into the world, even on the diet-reality that college is, these activities cause overwhelming stress. This is where plants come in.
Plants are great. They look cute, give their owner a “cultured” persona, and they offer a myriad benefits. Nearly every elementary school student learns the symbiotic relationship between humans and plants. Humans inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide; plant inhale carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen. Of course the process is more complicated than that but it’s understood that plants and people have mutual benefits from coexisting.
College students and people who live alone can capitalize on the fruits of plant owning. Owning a plant regulates air temperature, reduce carbon dioxide levels, reduce levels of pollutants — benezone, formaldehyde, and nitrogen dioxide — and decreases airborne dust levels. But not only are plants air purifiers, many plants can help shape peace of mind.
Plants can help air quality and fight depression. On top of that, plants look good in boring spaces. Adding a small succulent or cactus that doesn’t need a lot of light or water can spruce up a space and make it more inviting. A blank desktop, empty window sill, or low-energy area can be revitalized with a little help from even the smallest plant.
Taking care of plants has its benefits but it’s still a huge responsibility. A plant is a life that needs care and attention. The relationship between human and plant is all about communication. When a plant starts to wilt the owner should know what the plant is missing. Nurturing a plant will be like nurturing a child or pet that doesn’t demand as much attention. Plants only need water, soil, sunlight and a space for the roots breathe.
Moreover, plants can literally thrive with communication. Once/ if you have a plant, try talking to it gently. Talk about your day, pray, release your anxieties or even scream at your plant; the carbon dioxide from speaking can help it grow and talking to something that can will always listen is therapeutic.
When plants begin showing signs of fatigue it’s important that the owner know what to offer for the plant to survive and thrive. For example, if plant leaves turn yellow, begin to grow lesions/ black spots, or droop, although still green, these are signs of over-watering. Under-watered or ill-drained plants will have green roots but yellow leaves, because the plant will work to conserve water to its roots.
Not everyone has the studio space with natural light and warm temperatures. It gets cold, clouds are uncontrollable or there might not be a lot of light. Luckily, there are plants for every space. Plants like succulents, cacti, and philodendron, lucky bamboo, snake plants, and peace lillies are a few plants with varying sizes that thrive in low light. If your space has ample light, but you’re forgetful try agave, lithops, sage, poppies, sedum, rock daisies, and wallflowers are drought resistant. There’s a plant for everyone and every biome.
The similarities between plants, pets, and people are eye-opening. How love is love, life is life and coexisting with a small life can bring meaning, clean air and most importantly peace of mind. If the college life or the single life (or both) are getting you down in the dumps. Get down in the dirt and propagate a plant for positvity’s sake.
Joshua Burrell, Morehouse College Sophomore Cinema, Television and Emerging Media Studies major and Journalism minor from Maryland.
