Thriving Through Stressful Life Events with Nature: A Mixed-Method Study on Tending Indoor Plants and Rumination Resilience

Stressful life events are often undesirable, inevitable, and significant changes in one’s life, often triggering rumination and posing risks to mental health. However, these risks can be managed through coping strategies. Contact with nature has been shown to reduce rumination and enhance mental well-being. The current study investigated the effectiveness of a one-month nature-based intervention in enhancing psychological well-being and building resilience to manage rumination following a stressful life event. In this mixed-method study, 26 participants were randomly allocated to either an experimental group ( n = 13), which tended to the Zamioculcas zamiifolia indoor plant for one month, or a waitlist control group ( n = 13). Quantitative findings showed that tending to indoor plants was significantly effective in reducing depressive symptoms ( p = 0.003), perceived stress ( p < 0.001), negative affect ( p = 0.017), and rumination ( p = 0.015), as well as in enhancing resilience ( p = 0.03) compared to the control group post-intervention. Qualitative findings provided insight into how the nature-based intervention fosters rumination resilience, the mediating effects of tending to an indoor plant, and the contribution it makes to psychological well-being. ‘Offers a slice of nature by bringing the outside, in’ demonstrates how caring for indoor plants creates a bridge for connection with nature. ‘Fosters an emotionally regulating personal sanctuary’ captures how tending to indoor plants can help manage emotions and provide a sense of empowerment that helps mitigate the tendency to ruminate. ‘Plants seeds for improving self-care, personal growth and introspection’ highlights indoor plants as a symbolic representation of resilience and renewal. A narrative emerges: as indoor plants grow and thrive with attention, so too does the individual, forming a deep, reciprocal relationship between nature and personal well-being. This study demonstrates nature’s role in coping with stressful life events and developing rumination resilience, paving the way for further research to explore its caveats and refine and expand nature-based interventions.