Let's talk about gardening. During peak season, plants grow strong and steady. It's easy to maintain a garden in June when the sun sets late and the fireflies dance. You are like a garden, and the plants you water will grow. Yet it's easy to neglect ourselves when winter comes. My 20s have brought isolating yet illuminating winters that have shown me how necessary love is. I'm not just talking about our interpersonal relationships. I am talking about a raw, vining, and evergreen love for ourselves.

Now, let's talk about preparing the garden for winter. There are times when we often feel stranded and alone. Sometimes it is from grief, depression, or anxiety. It's true that plants need different things in different seasons, yet the snowdrop flower still blooms as early as January. We are more resilient than we give ourselves credit for. Winter has taught me that it is essential to slow down, to rest, to be gentle with myself.

Through the creation of this record, it took me some time to find a central theme but when I stumbled upon it, the meaning of it was irrefutable. We are gardens. We are persistent, abundant, overgrown with love. I think you'll find the more you open yourself to the concept of love, of forgiveness, your heart will have even more room to spare. And that is precisely how we survive the winter, with compassion for ourselves.

With a garden of love, Brenna xo