Love Succs: or, how tending succulents taught me to seek the love I deserved

I always thought of myself as having a brown thumb. I had tried to care for plants for most of my life, but usually I would get distracted, forget to water them for weeks then overwater them to compensate, until my plants were rotten or dried out. I would try time and time again, with all different kinds of plants — African violets, jade plants, Venus flytraps, herbs — but I just repeatedly failed, and eventually just figured that I wasn’t meant to grow plants.

A couple of years ago, though, I became obsessed with succulents. Initially, I was attracted to them because they seemed “easy” — they didn’t need much water, and many succulents thrived with a certain amount of neglect, or so I thought. They were also trendy, so it wasn’t too difficult to find fun varieties and plenty of care guides. I got some pots, set up a hanging shelf set in my window, and planted a bunch of different succulents, hoping this time I was actually capable of keeping them alive.

I’ll be honest- not all of the first lot survived. While succulents had a bit of a reputation for being pretty easy to care for, each one needed very specific things, and I had to learn to check in with my plants every day. I couldn’t just glance at them, either — I had to touch the leaves, feel how firm they were, get a sense for what…