The other day I was playing baseball in the front yard with my 9 and 6-year-old. As we were playing, two guys in a pickup truck stopped in front of my house and interrupted our game.

"Excuse me, sir, I noticed your lawn needs fertilizing. I happen to have 130 bags of topsoil with manure left over from my last job that can make your lawn look new again."

I kind of hemmed and hawed as I was in the middle of a baseball game with my boys and did not know these guys from Adam, yet at the same time, I knew the lawn needed help.

Our sprinkler timer had been out of commission for about two months, so the lawn was looking REALLY bad. I just changed out the old sprinkler timer with a new one the very night before so his timing was perfect.

He then said, "Let me throw down a free bag of dirt to show you what I can do."

I thought to myself, "Oh no, this guy reminds me of the cheesy Kirby Vacuum Cleaner salesman that knocked on our door 15 years ago, who my wife and I almost literally had to throw out of our house once we let him in to do his 'demonstration.'

However, I have been so pre-occupied working on a home exterior project, I knew it was going to be a while before I got to the lawn, so I gave him permission to proceed.

He then began raking out the old, dead leaves, poking holes in my grass with an aerator, poured out a layer of dirt from the bag, sprinkled some blue nitrogen on the dirt, threw down some marathon grass seeds, and spread the rest of the topsoil on everything like icing on the cake.

I said to him, "I'll admit it looks a lot better than before, but I was planning on just watering my grass regularly and I know if I do that, it will start to grow back."

He said, "Yes, water is good, but if you aerate the ground and add not only manure to fertilize the ground, but also nutrients, nitrogen, and additional seeds, it's going to make the biggest difference as the ground needs to be fed and nourished, not only watered."

What he was saying made perfect sense to me. We worked out a price and he earned my business.

Here are a few lessons you can apply to your health from my lawn experience:

1. STOP Neglecting a health issue that may be bothering you and START taking steps to resolve it. (I knew my sprinkler timer was not working, but neglected to fix it in a timely manner and the grass turned brown as a result. As soon as I took the first step to resolve the problem by changing out the timer, look what happened the very next day!)
2. You can never get around the fact that you ALWAYS Reap what you SOW. (Beyond the sprinkler problem, I have not sown anything into our lawn for years. I have not aerated, fertilized, seeded, or weeded anything into the ground so it was hard, brown, spotty, and ugly. I could have just watered the lawn without additional help, but the results would have been weak.)
3. Be PATIENT and PERSEVERING. (Yes, I invested in fertilizing and feeding my lawn and it already looks better, but it is going to take 6 weeks or more to really start seeing a new lawn. Just because you improved a lifestyle habit or took a few steps to resolve a health issue, understand it takes time to see the full results. Commit to staying at it in your quest for optimal health, even when you do not see the results you are expecting right away. Perseverance is KEY to results.)

Have a GREAT Thursday!

Dr. Derek 'the grass is greener where you take care of it' Taylor