Last weekend I saw a movie called Dare to be Wild. It’s a story about Mary Reynolds an Irish garden designer at the very beginning of her career and her vision of winning the gold medal at The Chelsea Flower Show for her garden design bringing wild nature into people’s gardens. For a start, she was not considered experienced and professional enough to even apply for a competition like that and mainly, she didn’t have the required £250,000 sponsorship money necessary to build her garden design at the flower show and take part in the competition. Many around said that this was a difficult and frankly impossible task; there were many barriers along the way which would have stopped so many people. If you are not interested in gardening, Chelsea Flower Show is for garden designers like Olympic games for athletes.
Anyway, Mary filled in the application form, then she was shortlisted, eventually she found a donor and got help from a botanist and environmental enthusiasts, she built the garden she dreamt about and won the gold medal at the age of 28 as the youngest garden designer ever. What made a difference is that she came from her goal and designed all steps towards it and not the other way around. Her will to make things happen was stronger than anything else she encountered, and she didn’t take ‘no’ as an answer.
This is a true story of an inspiring woman who totally leaned in to the vision. At the start of the application process, she put a note on her fridge saying ‘Thank you for my gold medal in garden design at The Chelsea Flower Show’. She believed that if you believe that something has already happened it will. She had a goal, a clear vision and determination to get there no matter what. The universe answered and created opportunities for her to achieve what she wanted.
What would you like to do if there would be no obstacles and no financial pressure? Once you have your picture clear – lean into it. Sometimes we don’t have to see the whole path ahead of us. At times we don’t even see beyond the next step. But that’s fine! Make the first step and a bridge will unfold, signs will appear, people will cross your path who will help to make things happen. Be bold and do it.
What will you dare to do? What would the message on YOUR fridge say?
