Anie Writes: December 2017

And So The Houseplants Adventure Begun

A kind of paralyzing inertia somehow settled over me.

It’s fancy words for the tiredness that comes from the elephantine teaching workload of always being present, ceaselessly giving and continually keeping all those balls in the air. I was emotionally drained and running on empty ten days into January of 2016. I knew I needed to reset but one doesn’t just tell a terminally INTP recluse to go out and unwind. I ached for the natural pace of life… one that is outside my classroom and beyond the bounds of punishing and tiring levels of social stimulations, the digitalized world included.

So one day, I got myself two small pots, spray painted it red and placed snakeplants in it. It was a very spur-of-the-moment kind of thing to be honest, that’s why imagine my stupefied amazement when tiny little bits of bright green were sticking out of the soil - a third or an inch tall, roughly three weeks later. In an attempt to take a break from all that was going on in my life, I managed to actually grow something. I’ve never considered myself equipped with the skills to keep a plant alive, let alone grow and transform into considerable buds but those snakeplant pups were such an exciting sight to see and somehow, I felt a sense of achievement from that. It was the ultimate remedy that I distractedly needed at the time. In addition to growing snake plants, I also learned how to propagate golden pothos. Throughout 2016, I’ve repotted dozens of them and even filled my classrooms with it. But, it was only until recently that I’ve purchased other houseplants to grow. Now, my little thriving plant family includes a spade-leaf and golden emerald philodendron, spider and zz plant, lucky bamboo, alocasia, a bird's nest fern, two succulents (black prince and derenbergii blue), a beavertail cactus and 6 others I have yet to identify (gifted to me by my sisters for Christmas).

Tending to houseplants rustles up to my more nurturing side but in a scope of care that is completely different from teaching kids or babysitting my nephews and niece. I also love how taking care of houseplants allows me to take a break and shake up my routine work. In this contemporary world that, in many instances, feels overwhelming, houseplants and caring for them helps me stay in touch with small realities, a connection to something so basic but also of substance. Just like some bakers who are in their happiest when they’re in their kitchens whipping up treats and comfort foods, I find exercising my green thumb wholly therapeutic, whilst learning to be more patient again because it takes time for plants to bloom a flower or grow a new leaf. And as soon as I see them grow and bloom, I usually get knock over with feather every single time, it's almost like a dream.

Some says filling your place with houseplants is a trend and that it'll come and go, in which I responded, perhaps. But for me, it’s more like a lifestyle.

At twenty-three houseplants and counting, I can say that it is. It truly is.

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, by Anie Ordillo

And So The Houseplants Adventure Begun

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