Irrigation Pipe and Alcohol

One man’s attempt to control nature because he couldn’t find a way to control himself.

I planted an olive grove thinking I was building something peaceful. Something rooted.

But it turned into a mirror I didn’t ask for.

Every line of irrigation I laid, every trench I cut — I thought I was managing nature.

Really, I was trying to manage me. Trying to fix the chaos inside by controlling everything outside.

Irrigation pipe on the land.

Alcohol in my veins.

Same impulse. Same illusion of control.

The Tree Doesn’t Lie

What I learned, standing out there with dry dirt on my hands, is that a tree only thrives under the most ideal conditions. Soil. Water. Wind. Sun. Balance.

You can have two trees side by side — one suffering, one flourishing — and it comes down to just a few feet of difference in the environment. Maybe the slope’s better. Maybe the roots got what they needed early on.

That’s it. That’s the whole game.

Nature’s Not the Problem — It’s the Context

The tree ain’t weak. It’s not broken. It’s just not in the right place.

Neither was I.

I was out there trying to force growth while I was still surrounded by my own drought.

Bad habits. Bad influences. Bad soil.

And then I wondered why nothing held.

It wasn’t about willpower.

It was about placement.

You Can’t Out-Discipline a Toxic Environment

I could route the water. I could set the timers.

But if the ground’s wrong, the roots won’t hold. Same goes for men.

The olive trees taught me what no barstool ever could:

Put the right thing in the wrong place, and it’ll still die.

I thought I had a drinking problem.

Turned out I had a context problem.

So yeah.

The grove’s still there. The pipes still run. But now I know:

It’s not about control.

It’s about conditions.

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If the foundation’s solid, everything else holds.