"The Green House Effect". I wrote about this concept on my previous personal blog, but throughout my first month of college, this idea has resonated through my friendships, my sorority, and my community here in Athens.

Don't Do Dandelions

Growing up, I believed blowing dandelions to be good luck, but when I got older, I found out I was really blowing seeds and that these puff ball shaped flowers were really weeds. However, by blowing these all over my lawn and watching the wind carry them next door, Cascade Avenue was unfortunately never covered in these good luck charms because for a seed to grow, it has to be in an environment to do so. In the same way, we cannot thrive as individuals until we are rooted in a community devoted to our development.

Be Watered

By building relationships, we are planting ourselves in places to be poured into. Like plants supported by the rain, water replenishes who we are as individuals, it nourishes us as people, and keeps us alive. Throughout our lives, we experience storms. These are the times we get a grade lower than our ACT score, the times we lose a loved one, the times we struggle with money, and the times our friendships and relationships seem unfixable. Like a college student on a 767 acre campus in a flash flood back to the dorms, we like to grab our umbrellas, our raincoats. We stay inside to avoid getting wet. However, in our lives, these storms pour into us allowing us to grow from the water flowing at us. We are watered by our thundering times and pouring pitcher friendships.

Dig Deep

Find the good soil. Find a place you can sink your roots into. Develop a soil of support you are able to stretch out to for support. Build a foundation to enable your growth. Allow your strengths to be fertilized by the nutrients of your foundation. Soak into he strength of the soil and take your friendships, ideas, and goals deeper than the surface.

Get To Know The Gardener

We cannot do this on our own. Despite our modern day value on independence, we need one another. We need someone who will take the time to take care of us. We need people to pour into us. We need help pruning for progress; like roses, we have to slice away what does not support sprouting and cut off what is holding us back. It can feel like garden scissors to the side to trim away the bad habits, toxic relationships, and terrible decisions, but it is essential in order to clean up our roots deep in what is good. We need the gardeners of our lives to hold us accountable and keep our growth genuine. Our gardener tends to us, waters us, plants us deep in good soil, and builds an environment structured around our goals.

Create a Climate

Flood your life with brilliant light. Be filled with the warm of glowing goals that protect against our winds and storms of everyday life. Forget the sunlight at the end of the tunnel, and find the torch in it- look for the well lit hope throughout the darkness and through the storm. These lights of our lives are a constant. They carry us from where we are to where we want to be. In the green house, this cultivated climate keeps us in an environment to soak up sunlight, break out of our shell, dig our roots, take in the water, and grow.

In high school, I never felt the green house. I never felt like I was truly being supported by the environment of Etowah. Here at UGA, I feel lucky to be able to break out of my shell here. To someone who does not understand growth, it looks like pure destruction as barriers break down and everything on the inside is exposed in openness. Sometimes in order to grow and to thrive, we feel like every detail of our lives is decomposing; at least, that's how I felt. However, here I am being poured into by full pledge classes of girls overflowing with joy and support. Here, I am comforted by roommates and hall mates that take care of me. I have developed deeply rooted friendships in four weeks. I love Delta Zeta, Russell Hall, and everything at the University of Georgia because it has become my personal greenhouse suffocating me in surreal sunlight.