Heal Your Depression With Nature
I want to share my journey with you, and I sincerely hope it will inspire you to spend more time appreciating and enjoying the beauty of our Mother Nature that surrounds us and the blessing of being alive.
I wonder if this resonates with you…. I have had many days where I have travelled from my home to a destination and not exactly remembered how I got there. – i.e. my mind was preoccupied with lots of “important tasks and To-Do lists” or may be I was worried or stressed about something at that moment.
I have got out of my vehicle and at times wondered ” I don’t remember the whole journey”.
Well ….that was my life most of the days.
I felt at times (or most of the time) I lived my life on ‘auto-pilot’ mode, running from one task to another, ticking the boxes of an ever growing and endless list of “To-Do” items.
No matter how many tasks I was able to tick off the list, I never felt happy or fulfilled, as I felt too tired to even sit back and look at what I have achieved for the week/day.
It was all based on my thinking of ‘the more I do and achieve, I will be happy in my life’
Years went by, but I never realised that happiness or fulfilment in my life, by rushing through one task after another; and never stopping to just relax and be present fully in that each special moment.
I have recovered from depression and anxiety. When I was going through those difficult and dark days, on certain days I felt hard to get out of home and go out for a walk. On certain days I would find it hard to even get out of bed. If I didn’t go through depression or anxiety I would have never known what it feels like to not want to get out of bed and feel alive.
They are few of the effects that depression and anxiety had on my life.
On certain days with a lots of persuasion, I will drag myself out of home and go out for a short walk.
I took this photograph when I was walking down the road to visit a friend.
At that time I never realised how this photo would become an instrument and be part of a solution, to help me recover from depression and anxiety.
After meeting my friend for a brief catch up, I was walking back home and I felt light at heart and a tiny glimpse of hope crept into me, knowing someone cared and understood what I was going through and was willing to be there for me as a friend. I started looking at all the beautiful flowers and the beauty of nature that surrounded me on my way home. I was amazed at the beauty of Mother Nature and I felt I was in a new location as I have never stopped to realise the peace that I felt when I gave my full attention to the present moment. In that moment I had hope and joy. I didn’t feel depressed or anxious! then that split second changed and once again it wasn’t the best feeling.
Nothing major happened that day, but I felt something has started to shift inside me. I felt inspired and on that day I made a promise to myself that I will get out of home and walk for at least 15 minutes a day.
In the next Posts, you will discover how this little promise I gave myself, has helped me with my recovery and also turned my life around for the best.
To all of you reading this article, this might sound a very simple task, but for me, at that moment, when I was going through depression and anxiety; I felt it was a major task! That is how depression or anxiety affected me. I felt I had no purpose and I felt I just couldn’t get out of home as I felt scared to be out in the world. Speaking to many others who are going through depression and anxiety I now relate to them as I do understand how they feel when they are depressed or anxious. At times even if they are going through a recovery process, still it can be a difficult process where it can be challenging.
I will share my whole journey in the next few posts, and I hope it will help and inspire you to spend time in nature and be fully present in each at any given moment, as these factors really helped me with the recovery process.
I am looking forward to sharing some amazing photos of sceneries (sun rise, sun set and many of nature wonders) and the lessons Mother Nature taught me on a daily basis. It was the easiest lessons as I had to do nothing, and all I had to do is sit quietly and be present and listen to my inner voice.
I cant wait to share my magical journey with all of you.
Wishing you much love and joy for each day,
With appreciation for the beautiful soul in you,
Minal