The Happiness Of A Disastrous Yard

Our front yard looks amazing. Two years ago we had a new walkway, patio and turf put down, and it truly looks amazing. The backyard? Another story.

Our backyard is large by city standards, and is surrounded by Cedar Trees, a little oasis grove in the heart of a big city. But holy cow it’s a mess out there. Our attempts to plant grass are thwarted by the cedar trees, yet weeds thrive. We started earlier this year to try to improve the yard but it’s a start-and-stop process because life is just so busy all the time. So the backyard is a motley collection of bare dirt, overgrown grass, weeds, tarps and various supplies. Thank goodness that no one can see it.

In theory that yard should stress me out. But it doesn’t. It actually makes me happy. Because it means we are prioritizing life over perfection, living and the moment rather than obsessing about our yard.

There was a time in my life when I obsessed about the yard. Cut it, edged it, watered it, painstakingly weeded it. I fretted when it wasn’t perfect. But that came at a cost to me personally, because there were many times I should have been relaxing but instead I was obsessed about the darn yard.

So I feel good now. That I have my priorities in order. And that makes me happy. And every single time I look out on that disaster of a back yard, I’m reminded of how much happier I am in life now than I was 20 years ago.