If I remember anything about pulling weeds growing up I remember it seeming futile and not enjoying it. Those dandelions were very rude to be growing right in the middle of our lawn like that.

I’ve pulled a lot of weeds in my life. In college I even did it for a job for a summer, my favorite non-career related job actually. Weeds were job security. They would always grow and someone would always need to pull them. I actually don’t mind it any more. It’s refreshing in its low cognitive demand and in the way you can get instant gratification when you look at the area you’ve just cleaned or the pile you just made.

It might seem strange to be talking about pulling weeds since January isn’t even over, but they’re already making their presence known in our yard and I’ll be planting our lettuce soon. As I’ve been pulling weeds the past few years I’ve been doing some thinking. And I’ve realized there is a lot about life that can be learned from pulling weeds.

One lesson is that I don’t worry about making our yard immaculate, I just make sure it looks better than the neighbors’. But it also helps to have neighbors with good yards.

Last summer one of our neighbors kept their yard real clean (well, the bank did because that house had been foreclosed on). And keeping the half of our yard nearest theirs weed free was real easy. There wasn’t as much spill over from their weeds. They didn’t have a lot of weeds that would go to seed and cause problems in our yard. It was real easy. Our neighbors on the other side didn’t do so great with their yard (they’d actually moved and the house was empty while they tried to sell it) and keeping that side of our yard clean was a constant battle.

The people we surround ourselves with can be a lot like that. If we surround ourselves with good uplifting people it makes it a lot easier to live a good, clean, uplifting life. When our friends aren’t planting seeds of self-doubt or misery in our lives it’s easier to keep those feelings out. And it goes both ways. The more uplifting you life your own life the easier it is for the people around you to live a higher standard as well.

I’m not going to move houses just because our neighbors don’t keep their weeds pulled (but don’t be surprised if I go out and pull their weeds). But I can move friends if they aren’t the kind that are making it easy for me to live the type of life I want to live. I want to to be friends with people who have weed free yards (or are regularly out there pulling the weeds in their life, because none of us are perfect). It makes it easier for me to keep the weeds out of my own life.