Spending Time in Nature is the Best Distraction from my Thoughts
Halfway through summer, I was already starting to stress about going back to school. I’m a K-5 P.E. teacher (which I actually call Health & Fitness), and was looking at two weeks of summer camp, then two weeks of teacher prep. So basically, I felt like my summer was already over, and it was only July. My mind was racing with all the goals I didn’t accomplish this summer, and all the tasks that were about to begin flooding my brain. As a proactive measure to counteract these stressful thoughts, and to keep myself accountable, I started a 28 day challenge of sorts to get myself out in nature for some Niksen time, and posted my progress to Instagram & Facebook.
It started off fairly easy, as doing nothing in nature comes pretty naturally to me at this point, but the Texas heat made it much harder. I started going out after 8pm, when it was cooler, but there were days where I was too tired at this point and needed to start dinner and get my son ready for bed. So I started by just sitting on my porch or in my hammock for a little while. Each time I did it, I was grateful for the calmness that it brought me before the hectic evening routines.
It wasn’t as easy as I thought though, because of the swarm of thoughts in my head. It felt like a meditation practice at times, where I would notice my thoughts and come back to my surroundings. Sometimes this felt like too much mental effort, which is NOT Niksen, but if I stayed with it for more than 10 minutes, it started to subside. By 15 minutes, I was finally starting to relax. Thoughts still came of course, but I was able to brush them aside more easily and tune into nature. Sometimes there would be a really cool thought that I would think “ooh! I should come back to that later.” That’s my favorite thing about Niksen: the inspiration and creativity it brings me. Not in a “one more thing on my to-do list” kind of way, but a “I’m grateful to feel inspired” kind of way.
I usually niks on my couch with a cup of tea, looking out the windows. This is especially nice for avoiding the Texas heat, but I realized it’s actually WAY easier to niks outside because there are so many pleasant things to tune into. Inside, I get distracted by the dirty windows I should clean, or the next chore that needs to be done. Outside, there is a plethora of bird behavior to watch, or movements to watch (the wind is my favorite), or colors to notice. As a Montessori trained teacher, I approach life through my senses, and follow where they lead me.
“These sensory experiences in nature are a much more effective distraction from my thoughts.”
Halfway through this challenge, it became a chore that I was too tired for. So I started walking during my niks time. Just a loop around the block, but it was impactful. Not only did it get my blood flowing, which I needed, but it gave me new things in nature to notice. I thought back to the beginning of the COVID quarantine, when I walked these streets every day, and it was like coming back to an old friend. Reconnecting with the plants, and sometimes the neighbors.
Even though it was now August, there were so many things blooming and growing! I also thought back to the crazy “snowpocolypse” we had earlier this year, when I thought there was no way anything would grow back. But it did, and it did with more gusto. As if the plants were realizing how short life is, and they put all their energy into growing and reproducing. I started to tune in to all the colors and shades of colors that I hadn’t noticed before. It even inspired me to revisit a nature illustration course on Domestika that I had purchased months ago and never started.
Looking back, these four weeks were more challenging than I thought. Like exercising, or any other healthy habit we try to incorporate more of in our lives, there were many days that I didn’t want to do it. There were days were I gave myself the grace to modify and do less, and days where I looked forward to it. Ultimately, tapping into nature and slowing down created small sparks of inspiration in my brain that helped build gratitude, patience, perspective, and ease, while quieting those pesky negative thoughts. It really has been the best (& cheapest!) support for my mental health, and acts as both therapy and self-care.
