Rowan Spazzoli

Sunflowers: people that actively try reach for something better. They look after everyone and make life more enjoyable.

Cactuses: people that are prickly and abrasive. They only take for themselves.

We all know people in both groups. We’ve all been one or the other at some point. But some people are overwhelmingly sunflowers, and some are unashamedly cactuses.

When the sunflowers are together, they flourish. They’re constantly giving and looking out for each other. But a single cactus can ruin all the sunflowers.

And so the sunflowers must protect themselves from the cactuses. They need to learn to shine in the presence of other sunflowers, and to fight for their space when the cactuses are around.

And as much as the sunflowers need to look after everyone else, they need to look after themselves when the cactuses are around.

A Floral Metaphor

This little metaphor is based on a bunch of conversations I had today with Massimo, Jared and Torie. And it was inspired by the garden (as seen in the picture) at Babylonstoren in Franshoek.

Although the analogy is quite fluffy, the message is simply about givers and takers. People who give, our sunflowers, thrive when they’re with other givers. But a person who is a taker will exhaust them, eventually leaving them with nothing left to give

As much as it’s difficult for the giver, there are times when they need to protect themselves from this. And make sure they’re okay before trying to fix the world around them

So be a sunflower. Just make sure to protect yourself from the cactuses.

Image was taken at Babylonstoren today. Had a wonderful outing with family from overseas and my uncle Maxi 🙂

Song of the day: Elvis Presley - Jailhouse Rock

Blog 144/365. Read more about my #365of25 journey here

Lets say I had the following choices this afternoon:

1. Go for a run or walk on the promenade and spend the evening reading a book
2. Play playstation for 4 hours.

If I was asked “which option would make you feel better” I would say option 1. Or if I was to say which one I wanted to do, I’d also say 1. And If I’d evaluated them objectively, option 1 would definitely have been the best for me.

But I chose option 2.

And so I spent the afternoon doing something I didn’t really want to do, that was objectively worse for me and didn’t help me feel better.

The Wrong Choice

I think that this is one of the things that frustrates me most about my psyche and the human psyche in general. We often know exactly what’s best for us. But will actively choose the worse option.

I’d love to investigate the reason for this. And understand why we can’t get ourselves to do something that we want to do.

I know that willpower can get us over this hurdle. But what happens when that’s run out?

If anyone knows the answer, please let me know 🙂

Image was taken on the promenade last year. On a happier note, the person in the picture is back in Cape Town!

Song of the day: Vanilla Twilight - Owl City

Blog 142/365. Read more about my #365of25 journey here