It was the perfect Sunday to plant our trees. The sun was up, the winds were strong, and something keeps on telling me that nothing could go wrong. But don’t let the looks of it fool you; things may be pretty on the outside but deep down within most of us, it’s a disaster. The academic life is really not an easy life to live; it is a struggle between pain and inspiration. Amidst the chaos in our minds, and the pressure that all our professors are exerting upon us, the tree planting might have been the perfect cure to our inevitable madness. It served as a much-needed break, giving us the chance to attend to our self first before doing other tasks. Before we began planting our trees, I first made sure that I was wearing gloves. The same applies to the coming weeks; that tree planting served as my gloves, it prepared me mentally and spiritually to face the coming challenges and do the dirty work ahead.

But don’t get me wrong; the planting was the easy part. Although we had a really hard time digging up the soil, we did something a lot harder; the identification of the illnesses of our souls. A lot of questions flew by in our minds as the day progressed; “Are we digging the right hole?” “Are we wielding the right equipment?” “Are we planting in the correct spot?” The questions further developed when we were already trying to reflect; “Are we doing what we were really meant to do?” “Are our efforts meaningless?” “Are we stupid enough to believe that such as small task will be even relevant?” But then, as the clock winds further, sudden realizations came into our minds. The plants weren’t the issue or the focus; it was the act of planting itself that paved a path for taking care of our own beings. Care of self isn’t just a passive action, or an attitude that we apply while we are living, rather it is something that’s meant to be done, a labor that requires time and energy, dedication and commitment. By going out and planting those trees, we gave time for ourselves to see and realize how we really have been lately. We were able to reflect upon the very core of our souls.

“Why?” Every time I brought down the pickaxe to strike the soil, that was the question that came into my mind. Why? Why are we even doing this? Why are we even trying so hard to plant such puny trees? Why are we exhausting ourselves to get this done and over with? And then, it hit me; it was a much-needed effort to wake us up from the slumber of our souls. The very act of digging itself was like digging up our own souls within us, trying to identify what’s wrong and what’s right with it. As we patched the soil of our seedlings to wrap up the day, it seemed as if we’ve patched up the gaping holes in our souls.