The “Nature” of You

I recently experienced a very traumatic incident. The mental and emotional intensity was such I had to swallow my pride, invest in my own mental health, and take a leave of absence from my work. The first week away I was still very emotional, and I felt guilty leaving my teams with so much to do. I watched tv, cried, read books, watched more tv, played some volleyball, ate what I wanted. I invested in myself; something i realized, that we Corporate America type just do not do. Its also something that strong independent people do not often do either.

I started to realize that for most of my life it has always been about other people. What were their expectations, how did they expect me to act, what needed to be done to keep the peace. I had no clue what “I” wanted. So I set myself a goal. I will do something I had been wanting to do since I moved here and never did. These were by no means excursions that were going to be life changing… or so I thought at the time, but I saw this mountain on a tv show and it looked fantastic. Given recent events there was NO WAY I was going to go alone, so I phoned a friend to ask for help ( something I am also really bad at ). We set a date and off we went. Hindsight being what it is, hiking that mountain was the turning point for me. Being in Nature really grounded me, it made me think of home and all the mountains and trails I had access to, I felt more like ME than I had in a while. Standing out on that peak I let the wind blow into me as it if was giving me new life and breathing for me. I looked at the rocks with my geologic mind I haven’t thought of in years, I stared into the open view realizing just how big the world is.

Climbing that mountain the effort was exchanged with power and energy. It just so happened that the following Monday right before next therapy appointment that my Costco Connection magazine arrived in my mailbox. The cover was a hiker with mountains and an Article called Natural Remedy. Now very intrigued I open to the page it said and thumbed through the article. I will say there is still something about turning the page on physical media that is just so much better than eBooks. The Author Wendy Helfenbaum wrote things like “Vitamin N”, and “A prescription for outdoors”, but what caught my attention was the man sitting in front of the clock and next to it a title “Time in nature”. It listed how each dose of specific outdoor time impacted your health. Another article i came across somewhere talked about how the author underestimated how good they would feel spending time outdoors exercising each day. 

As I finished my Leave of absence, I knew that it would be really easy to get caught up in the chaotic covid work from home wheel again, and vowed, especially my first week back I wouldn’t let it happen. I set up my schedule so that I would either have volleyball, or go for a walk after work every single day for a week. Well its actually been a week and a half and I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt I feel better than I have in a year. On Monday I was 2 miles in and saw a rabbit, I stood there and watched that rabbit eat grass for probably 10 minutes. It was cautious to know where I was at all times but satisfied to just do what it wanted and eat grass, my stress drifted, and then every creature I saw after that, Bird with a worm, squirrels running up a tree, another bunny family, all made me smile with no one around. I have begun to crave nature so much that I put on my rain jacket to go out yesterday, and it’s just amazing how green and how fresh it smells in the rain.

We all know that money and success do not buy happiness and that it comes from within. Just maybe… absorbing nature into our routine is probably is what the doctor should order. My advice… the best investment is in you. Grow that portfolio in nature.

Regards,

Mroy