i posted this picture of myself a week ago, with the hashtag nature girl 2024.
i have never wanted to go backpacking. and i don’t camp out. in fact, as an adult, i’d rather be inside (anywhere) than outside.
i always thought this meant i wasn’t fully appreciating or embracing nature, so i set out this year to do more things outdoors, to pay more attention to the natural world.
and something interesting developed on my nature girl quest.
i realized how finely attuned to my environment i already was! i don’t need to be sleeping in a tent in the middle of the forest in order to recognize and be aware of the many cycles of nature. i do this every single day.
i experience all four seasons where i live, and i welcome each one. i am obsessed with the moon, and i love the feeling of the sun’s warmth on my face. i am fascinated with changes in the weather, often taking pictures or journaling about the shifts. the sound of a rushing river or gently rippling brook is musical; gazing at a serene lake calms me, while ocean waves mesmerize. i love rocks and flowers, and i especially love mountains. their solid strength grounds me like nothing else.
i’ve even had favorite trees, two in particular. one, which cradled me as a reading nook at my idaho childhood home, met an untimely (and forever-tragic-to-me) end on my sixteenth birthday, when my tears were drowned by the chainsaw’s whine. (a life-changing moment, but another story for another day.) the second my family and i lovingly called the “camel tree” – it warmly greeted me on walks through our forested five acres in western washington.
there are many things i try to capture in my photographs as well . . . the falling snow, the way the sunlight streams through the trees, crumbling bark, intriguing plant formations, piles of red and yellow and brown leaves.
i am also learning about the elemental cycles of wood, earth, metal, water, and fire through my qigong/TCM studies. and i invite and encourage the natural flow of energy each and every day.
furthermore, as a counselor/coach, i am both student and teacher of the life cycle and its various stages, tribulations, joys, trials, and triumphs.
so you see, i’ve been a nature girl all along.
that doesn’t mean that i won’t be consciously attempting to expand my knowledge of and admiration for nature. i will, constantly pushing myself a bit further out of my comfort zone. but at my own pace, with things i hold close to my heart.
nature girl 2024? no. nature girl for life.
