The Garden and The Soil

There is a growing movement in agriculture called regenerative farming. The idea is a response to modern farming practices that have left land and soil without the nutrients needed to produce healthy and thriving crops.

Over time, the practices that led to large crops, have resulted in less nutritious food, and an increased reliance on fertilizer and chemicals. As each new crop was harvested, the soil quality was getting worse, and though the crops looked similar they were less nutritious.

Regenerative farming is a movement to grow food and raise cattle. It is a different school of thought, but more importantly, it is a different values hierarchy.

Instead of putting short-term crop yields first, the regenerative farmer puts the land and soil first, recognizing that without good soil there can be no good crops.

I’m not a farmer and I’m not writing this to talk about farming. Instead, this is about values and work.

Doing great work, and harvesting a bountiful crop, is exciting. It feels meaningful and rewarding. But any one crop cannot be more important than the soil.

Walk by any office building and look at what the people aged 35+ walking in look like. You will see pale skin, anxious eyes, growing bellies, and broken bodies. You will see people who have sacrificed themselves for their jobs, year after year and the resulting toll that has taken on them decades later.

None of these people would say that their jobs are more important than their families or that their jobs are more important than their health, but through our actions, we communicate our values and for many people, work – specifically jobs they aren’t fully aligned with – become the highest value.

This might then be interpreted as an argument for “work-life balance” or self-care, but it is much deeper than that. Doing great work nourishes the soul, but a well-paying job often requires us to sacrifice our best. We lose sight of our purpose and our values in a scramble for status and material rewards.

Sacrificing your purpose or what you think is right will deplete you. Sacrificing your health will deplete you. Sacrificing your family will deplete you. And eventually, no interventions will be possible, and no crops will grow. You will be depleted.