This year I seem to have had some gargantuan physical tasks, moving tons of rock wood or soil from one place to another. Traditionally when confronted with jobs this size I have a tendency to freak out, run away and find distractions.

But nature is a great teacher and it is my observation of nature that has helped me cope with tasks that seem Herculean. In the same way that the sun moves across the sky just too slowly to perceive, even the fastest-growing plant is difficult to see growing.

But every day it grows just a tiny bit. Every day. And this is my key to handling what seem to be unfeasibly huge tasks whether it be building a wall or writing a book. Gone is the impatient Aries “If I can’t do it in a day then I’m not going to do it”. Gone is the ‘trying too hard’ huge initial energy investment that results in a self-fulfilled prophecy failure – replaced by the gravitas of nature’s ‘just a bit every day’.

Rocks melt away, tons of wood is sawn, stacked and tidied away for the winter, wheelbarrow-fulls of leaf mould make it onto the garden beds. Maturity has a great deal to offer.