Overthinking Herbalism

I've been thinking about what it means to be an herbalist. Like most people with a modicum of humility, I often feel imposter syndrome. Some of this comes from my personal habit of overthinking everything, and the rest of it probably comes from basic fear. Fear of doing more harm than good, or simply not knowing enough.

 Herbalism is much like any profession that requires the “practice” of it. I have come to realize that I’m not “doing” herbalism, I’m “practicing” it. That realization has led me to understand that the “practice” of anything requires two ingredients: education and time. A National Science Foundation (NSF) study estimated that there are about 435,000 unique land plant species. With that much room for error, the obvious conclusion should be that I need to research topics deeply before I recommend specific plant medicines to other people. I used to think that extra research time meant that I wasn’t as talented an herbalist as others I had seen on social media who seemed to have all the answers all the time. But I’ve come to finally see that beat of hesitation and need to double and triple check doesn't make me a subpar herbalist, it makes me a responsible one.

 I think of my own family and the herbal remedies I give them. I have never and would never give my children or my husband anything that I’m the least bit doubtful about. Everything I have in my own home, or that I promote in my product line has been poured over with a grateful nod to my obsessive overthinking. That much maligned trait is the very thing that makes me methodical and trustworthy.

 I have come to see my overthinking as a valuable resource that shines in the products I create. I hope that I am always afraid. I believe the most dangerous herbalist is the one that fires from the hip with little thought or research. People are at their most unstable point when they believe they have all the answers. If an herbal practitioner ever comes to believe themselves infallible, that’s when they could really hurt someone. The products we create need to be safe first, then effective, and we must never be so confident or unafraid that we lose sight of that.

 So, if you are just getting started in herbalism, or you’ve been practicing for a while, take this as permission to slow down and let your overthinking run wild so that you can protect those you love and those you service. We can be fast, or we can be efficient, but we can rarely be both at the same time.