How Gardening Helped Me Heal During a Difficult Season

The year I caught Covid-19 changed the rhythm of my life more than I expected. I thought I would simply rest a few days, get better, and return to normal, but the illness stayed longer and affected me in ways I didn’t understand at the time. My body was tired, and my mind felt even more drained.

I spent most days inside, moving from my bed to the couch, watching the light shift across the room and feeling strangely disconnected from everything I used to enjoy.

Because of the isolation and the constant worry around me, my days felt repetitive. I wasn’t excited about anything, and I didn’t feel like myself. I kept trying to distract my mind with work, movies, and phone scrolling, yet nothing helped.

I remember thinking that my world had suddenly become smaller, as if someone had gently turned down the volume of life.

A Simple Step Into Fresh Air

At some point, I started missing the feeling of being outside, so one morning I opened the back door just to take a breath of fresh air. I wasn’t strong enough to do much, but the quiet of the yard felt different from the quiet inside the house.

Because I hadn’t gone outside for weeks, everything looked a little unfamiliar. Pots sat untouched. Leaves had gathered in corners. The air smelled different.

When I walked closer to the garden beds, something small caught my eye. It was a sprout in a pot I had planted long before I became sick.

I had forgotten all about it, yet it was growing on its own, without care, without attention, and without perfect conditions.

That small discovery didn’t fix anything, but it softened something inside me. After weeks of feeling stuck, it felt refreshing to see even the tiniest bit of life moving forward.

Slowly Returning to My Garden

Because that little sprout brought a surprising sense of comfort, I went outside again the next day.

At first, I didn’t do anything except sit and breathe. However, after a few mornings, I found myself brushing away dry leaves, checking the soil, or watering one pot at a time.

I wasn’t trying to create a beautiful garden. I simply needed something gentle to follow each day, and plants naturally became part of that routine.

The garden didn’t expect anything from me, which made it easy to be there. Some days I spent only five minutes outside. Other days I stayed a bit longer and looked for small signs of change.

This slow return to nature helped me reconnect with myself little by little, because the plants were moving at a pace I could keep up with. They weren’t rushing, and neither was I.

The First Signs of Joy Coming Back

As the weeks passed, some of the plants started responding to the small amount of care I could give them. The bulb grew taller. Also, a few herbs started showing new leaves.

My marigolds, which I believed were completely gone, began forming tiny buds. These changes were small, yet they created a sense of progress that I had been missing for months.

Because I woke up each morning wondering what had changed overnight, my days gained a bit of excitement again. Even though I was still recovering physically, I felt more hopeful.

It became clear that caring for something simple made the days feel more meaningful, and that made it easier to face everything else happening around me.

What That Season Quietly Taught Me

Looking back, I can see how much the garden supported me during that difficult time. It was a quiet process that unfolded in a very natural way. Because the plants only needed simple things like water, sunlight, occasional attention, I slowly learned to be gentler with myself too.

There were moments when I felt frustrated because my energy was still low, yet the garden never made me feel behind.

Plants grow on their own timelines, so being around them helped me accept that healing works the same way. I didn’t need to rush. I didn’t need to be productive. I only needed to take things one day at a time, the same way a plant grows leaf by leaf.

From My Healing Journey to My Blogging Journey

Even though my healing happened during the Covid period, I didn’t share any of it publicly at the time. I was too focused on recovering and finding my own balance again.

Years later, in 2024, I realized how much joy I felt when I shared plant tips and little garden discoveries with friends and family. Because gardening had supported me during one of the hardest seasons of my life, it became something I wanted to share in a genuine way.

My blog is from years of personal experiences that slowly shaped who I am today. The garden helped me heal first, and only later did it inspire me to connect with others through stories and tips.

My Final Thoughts

Whenever I think about the early days of the pandemic, I remember the fear and uncertainty, but I also remember the first sprout that made me step outside.

Today, my garden is one of the places where I feel most grounded. It reminds me of how far I’ve come since that season and why I continue to love sharing stories about plants, growth, and everyday moments.

Nature has a quiet way of guiding us back to ourselves, and I will always be grateful for the part it played in my own healing.