The Best Time to Plant Trees

June 23

The old saying goes the best time to plant a tree is 10 years ago, the second best time is today.

Like all old sayings, it leaves out quite a few important details.

First: planting trees is dirty business. You’ve gotta pull on your oldest tennis shoes, find the shovel in your garage, and impose its will upon the earth, scraping the edges and pilfering the center of a hole that is somehow always too small.

It’s sweaty work. You’ll need to pack a water bottle, sun screen, and possibly a small towel, braving whatever the elements throw at you to place a tiny sapling in the ground. 

The trick here is that, despite the entire inconvenience of planting trees, you’ll find it significantly easier than trying to move a fully grown one. And you’ll discover that even though the ground is drenched in your sweat, your actions—plus the course of time—will create something no number of backhoes, cranes, and contractors could. 

In a roundabout sense, the lesson here is: do things today that put time on your side. Because with time on your side, you can do the sort-of-difficult before it becomes the impossible.

Morning Reading is a daily email to help center yourself, reflect, and prepare for the day. It’s sent with love from your friend, Zach in Austin, Texas. He even drew the logo himself.

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