Transplanting

This is an excerpt from the weekly News-Loveletter. If you would like it sent to your inbox directly (with all the other juicy bits, including a mini joy practice), you can add yourself to my mailing list here.

The strawberries made a hella lot of babies last year. I put the starts in late, and they shared a little fruit, but mostly they bred and set down roots. I prod the little ones from the earth now and transplant them in rows, lovingly prepared. Last year, I planted strawberries as an afterthought. This year, I know how to better go about it.

Isn’t that a marvelous thing? We learn the hard way once or twice (or twenty times), and eventually say, “Oh! Here’s how I can do it better.” Our better looks more orderly. It even takes less effort, after the habit has been changed.

In the past year, inspired by my friend Kiley (her playful and stylized surface designs here), I emptied my bedroom of electronics. It took me a couple months to get past my perceived obstacles to this. (I need my phone as an alarm clock! What if I have to call 911 and I’m trapped in my room? — silly, I know.) Then I bought myself a birdsong alarm clock and gave “letting go” a go. Months later, I’m thrilled with the lack of temptation to check my email in bed.

I’ve known for a long time that I wanted to retrain my brain to less screentime in bed, but it took a structural change — the new alarm clock — to bring the idea to fruition.

Which of your less-healthy habits could use an upgrade? Are there structural changes you could make to support new habits likely to yield better tasting fruit?