By Sabriya Dobbins, Life Discovery Expert

“Gosh, I am so annoyed! My basil plant is growing so beautifully and big. I don’t even cook with basil that much! Why are the other plants taking so long?!”

I rolled my eyes and scoffed as I stared at the basil plant sitting on my windowsill and side-eyed my slowly growing cilantro and parsley plants.  

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As we headed for a short car ride later that day, my fiancé turned to me and said, “Life has its basil parts.” I looked at him wide-eyed like: WHAAA?

But then a second later, I realized exactly what he meant. He was right. There are basil parts of life and I am in fact living the “Basil” part of my life right now.

Let me explain:

Though I did not prefer the speed and growth of my basil plant over the other plants, I could not deny its beauty and yummy scent that it evoked. I could not deny those vibrant green leaves and how they lit up our apartment on dim days.

We often have a preference on how life should turn out (“the cilantro and parsley parts”). We have an idea of what we want and need as well as how it should happen, once again, the cilantro and parsley parts. But sometimes, the basil grows faster and we don’t know how to take it—also known as the “basil parts.” Sometimes, the basil is what we NEED but we are not willing to accept it. We fixate ourselves on what we THINK we need.

My “basil" part:

When I launched my company Project Passport, I thought that I would be hosting amazing in-person mental empowerment/wellness retreats all over the world right now. In fact, I should be in Kenya next month (in July). But the pandemic hit forcing my entire company to go virtual. The initial thought of going virtual was sickening. Everyone else in this cyberspace world, dying to sell something and pushing their products from every which way.

All I could think was that I would never find my niche virtually. I was STUCK on only the cilantro and parsley of my life. I could not IMAGINE dealing with basil. Nonetheless, a few months into the pandemic, I type this blog with fully booked virtual retreats big and small. We have tons of amazing collaborative events in the pipeline. Our web traffic is up. Our brand recognition is spreading. And I cannot respond to enough emails.

My so-called “basil” life shook everything up and I am finding success and impact in a space that I never imagined being in so soon, the virtual one. This basil concept has got me thinking.

If we as people could more quickly identify the “basil parts” of life, can we live more peacefully and joyfully?

I dare say— “Yes!” I think the beautiful, room-lighting basil is being overlooked by many of us right now. There is basil in the pandemic. There is basil in social change. There is basil all around you. Can we just fathom what we could do with basil if we just tried?

What are your basil parts? Are you utilizing them or are you clipping them off?

Thank you to my fiancé Taylor for inspiring this blog. You push me and you keep me on my toes!

P.S. I look forward to helping other amazing women find their basil parts and shift to another level of gratitude and excitement for this beautiful thing we call life!

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Project Passport is a proactive mental wellness company that aims to bring mental wellness retreats, workshops and other services to company teams. We also help women create joy in their lives every step of the way. To learn more about our company retreats and services, click here. To learn more about our tribe community for women, click here. Our travel retreats will resume in the future as the world reopens.