How Gardening Can Make You More Optimistic and Happier

A research-backed look into gardening and mental health.

Photo by Candiix on Pixabay

I love flowers — all kinds. Whenever I see a flower blossoming, I feel like my heart blossoms as well.

That said, I’m not born a good gardener. My friends even said I shouldn’t plant a garden because they thought I would destroy it.

I had no secret of denying it. But I never stopped dreaming of having my own garden.

I’ve read books, watched YouTube videos, and observed others planting. I bought seeds and grew them on my balcony. A few of them grew; others didn’t. I kept doing my experiments over and over again.

And you know what? After one year, I’ve built my own garden with a lot of flowers: sunflowers, marigold, pansy, calibrachoa, rosemary, petunia rose — I can’t count. They’re my friends and precious assets.

Photo by author

You may wonder why I am so crazy with the “gardening” thing. Is it because I want to show friends that they’re wrong about me? That I can do what they think I couldn’t?

Nope.