Walking Alongside Nature
The first weekend in October, all
of Saturday, I needed to go outside to clear my head. The only place for me to
completely empty all my thoughts, the joys and sorrows of the past week, was to
go on a long walk. I usually reserve running for when I need to get rid of
energy, but walking underneath the trees is truly the place where I feel most
calm. I live out at Clearfork by the press café, and had never actually gone on
a walk on the many trails that surround the back of the restaurant. This particular
day, I decided to try them out.
First, as I was walking, I noticed things I had
never noticed before when just walking. I’m not sure if it was just because of
the nostalgic mood I was in, but I first noticed how beautiful the rocks were
that piled up on either side of the river. I went over and decided to sit on a
ledge, instead of the bench next to the river. Usually I think of rocks as
simply just rocks, but in this case, they spoke to me differently. Each one was
different in size, color and shape. Some you could draw on the sidewalks with,
others were shade for the tiny ants that crawled in and out of cracks in the
sidewalk. They were more like protectors than they were rocks. Each one was
beautiful and unique, much like people. It was a nice reminder to take every
day seriously and let people get to know you.
I had never really thought of
nature speaking to me before, especially not rocks. But then I noticed the tiny
little rip currents in the water that reminded me of the memories flooding and
folding over in my head. It was almost like a big deep breath. The fresh air,
the warm breeze was all speaking to me. I felt like in those moments, simply
sitting next to the water, was freeing and helped me feel okay again. The
healing power of nature is astonishing to me sometimes. I don’t always see it
and I don’t always notice it. But when I choose to go outside and just breathe,
the little signs that the world around me is awake and alive is eye opening.
How the clouds slowly change shape before my eyes, and how the little ladybug
that crawls up my arm can make me smile when I’m at my lowest, is very
humbling.
Nature is powerful. Any and all emotions can be seen in a much brighter
light and put into perspective when you allow the world to heal you. I believe
that being outside has helped me every single time I needed to let things go. I
much prefer looking at the stars at night, listening to the birds chirping,
watching fire ants build a home for themselves, and being a small person within
a world that is so big. When I got back up to walk back home, I realized that
nature is here to show us what is most important in the world. That the sun
will always rise the next day and give us another chance to improve upon ourselves
and the wind will always blow to remind us that we are not alone in the world. No
matter how big our problems are, we can be sure that if we don’t explore what God
has given us in this Earth, we will not be here much longer.
Days like that
one, simply being with the world, is reason enough to not get caught up in the
minute problems we feel like we’re drowning in. Nothing should take our happiness
away. Nature, the outdoors, is here to protect us and show us all the good in
the world, and we should absolutely not take that for granted.
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