To go along with our latest merch drop, I wanted to share some thoughts about the theme that runs through it all: grow through what you go through. 

It’s an unfortunate fact of life that sometimes bad things are going to happen to you. And those situations can have an impact on your next steps through life. And the way I see it that can be in a negative way or a positive one. The tricky bit is turning it from a negative into a positive. You know all those annoying times people say “everything happens for a reason”? I’m worried I’m gonna go into that kinda territory, but stick with it. It’s about trying to find – or make – a reason for the rubbish stuff that happens. If it weren’t for all the rubbish stuff that happened to us as we grew up, then HATW wouldn’t even be a thing.

Poop for Fuel

I guess an apt metaphor is the fact that some plants thrive and grow when they’re planted in manure. Literal poop. So even though they’re surrounded and buried by actual crap, they still push through and grow into beautiful plants. If anything, they need the poop and the minerals etc within it to help them grow. So if you’re feeling buried in metaphorical crap, remember that this situation can be the thing that’s actually propelling you to grow. 

(I really hope you never find yourself buried in actual poop).  (also: lol, who would’ve thought I’d write the word poop so many times in a blog post)

Time and Care

Good things take time and care. Now I’ve had a lot of house plants in my time. And I’ve killed an awful lot of house plants in my time. What’s interesting is that my plants tend to wilt and die when I’m not taking care of myself. It’s a clear correlation. When I’m lost in my head and neglecting myself, I end up neglecting my plants. When I’m in a good headspace, I’ll be taking good care of them and they start to thrive again. 

I think sometimes making myself take care of these plants when I’m down helps me feel better too. It feels like a really small little act that can make a noticeable difference. Because I know my plants and my mental state are connected, seeing a plant go from wilty to thriving can help me feel like it’s possible to turn myself around and take my brain from being wilty to thriving too. 

Jeff Goldblum is Right

To quote our favourite fictional professor: life finds a way. (It’s a Jurassic Park reference, in case ya missed it). In a plant sense – and in a dinosaur sense – even against all the odds, a tiny seed can grow into a big ole tree. There’s some plants/seeds that actually only grow when they’ve been through fire. So while a forest fire can seem like a disaster to us, it’s actually necessary for some plants to grow. 

And also, you ever seen stuff like the roots of a tree growing around or over or under weird stuff? Like rocks and that? The way that big ole trees will have solid sturdy roots is that they essentially “feel” their way around in the soil. When they come across something like a rock, or some other obstacle, they move around and keep on feeling their way until they’re able to keep on growing. I guess that’s what we’ve gotta do with life. We’ve gotta keep on feeling our way around, moving and adapting when we come up against obstacles, and do what we gotta do to keep on growing. 

-Si