Outside the boundaries

Several years ago I planted a couple of lantana plants in our front porch garden. To say that they flourished is an understatement.

These in particular have taken over the area in their exuberance. Bear in mind that I trim them back every winter; all of this is new annual growth.

The only problem with this spectacular growth is that it has spilled out over the lawn…

…over the edging that I had so thoughtfully provided for its guidance. When it dies off in the winter, it leaves a huge semicircular brown patch of dead zoysia for all the world to see. I tried for a while to keep it trimmed back, but it could not be stopped.

Why am I telling you this? Sometimes our projects get away from us, swelling past the boundaries we were pretty sure we had set. They get bigger, no matter how much we try to trim them back. As J.R.R. Tolkien said of The Lord of the Rings, “The tale grew in the telling.”

Be open to that possibility. Be open to “scope creep.” Be open to letting your work grow beyond your boundaries. Be open to the idea that the GESTALT of your work is that it needs to be bigger.

And all in all, isn’t a project that flourishes — taking over more space than it was meant to have — a better situation to be in, than a project that sits small and shriveled within the bare boundaries it could never quite reach?

Let it grow!