I know so many people feel cut off from the natural world because it feels inaccessible — because of illness, disability, money, transportation, location, fear, exhaustion, or just life being life.
But I promise you, nature is not as far away from you as it may feel.
I’ve felt that too. Some days I desperately want to go outside, to be surrounded by trees and dirt and wind, but I’m limited by my own circumstances. So I’ve had to learn how to find the natural world in smaller, softer ways.
Sometimes I sit on my porch, lie on a blanket, and just stare at the sky. I thank it for being there. I watch the clouds move. I let the air touch me.
Sometimes I look out my window and see birds, and immediately think of Hera.
Some days I’m too sick to get out of bed, so I get a glass of water, swirl it around, and listen to it. And yes, maybe it sounds silly, but I hear the ocean in it. That water still belongs to the natural world. It still came from somewhere ancient.
If you can’t go to the woods, you can watch a nature documentary and thank Pan or Artemis or any deity you associate with the wild.
If you can’t walk barefoot in the grass, you can touch a houseplant.
If you can’t sit under the moon, you can look at a photo of her.
If all you can do today is breathe, then breathe with the earth. That counts too.
Nature is not only found in forests, mountains, rivers, and beautiful places far away from you.
It is in your tap water. It is in the birds outside your window. It is in the weeds growing through concrete. It is in the sky above your home. It is in your own body, your breath, your hunger, your tiredness, your heartbeat.
Please don’t feel discouraged if your connection looks small right now.
Small is still sacred.
You are not separate from the natural world. You are part of it. 🌿
