YES, Yes, yes! You can return to your previous life - it just takes some time. By a year from now, you will have your strength and energy back - just give yourself time.

15 years ago, a friend, mentor and fellow gardener taught me the value of gracefully reaching out. She reached out to us for help in her huge yard - My daughters and I tag-teamed for several summers helping her, until her granddaughter could be taught. From that I learned the value of passing on my passion by working with others, not only as a master gardener, but as a coach in my own yard.

For the two years I was working to recover from 3 hip revision surgeries, my kids helped me when they could, and we just pretended the gardens not visible from the patio didn't exist. My gardening friends stepped in to dig and divide plants for our annual fund-raiser sale.

Then, the kids' lives changed, and I got sick with a bad lung infection, and for those 2 years and part of the following summer, I hired "muscle" a 15yo grand-nephew, for about 4 hours a week and taught him the critical stuff. It was part of a concerted strategy with his grandparents to prepare him for life so I tried to coach work ethic as well. Last year I pushed through on my own, just barely able to "keep up" with the most necessary chores.

This year, I have realized my body will not handle the demands of my multiple gardens, some in need of renovation, and I hired another grand-nephew. He is a blessing! Eager to learn, and the hardest working and most careful teenager (even though not yet 13) I have ever met. He loves to dig, divide, haul dirt and move rocks. This week, with a little input from me, he actually did the design and execution on one of the renovations - a 10 X 24 bed on a berm. It will have a sign naming it "Peter's Garden" when we finish.

So part of my "fun money" will now go to pay for the labor in my yard each year. It allows me more time to appreciate what I have, and offers the opportunity to work one-on-one with young people.
Give your body time to heal - pushing too hard and too soon will make you vulnerable to injury and infection.
Let us know how you're doing in a few weeks.
Sue