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Recently at a Q&A, the chair asked me an excellent question: Why do you push so hard against the idea of a ‘nature cure’ when moments in your book Drystone - A Life Rebuilt might look like exactly that?
The answer is simple.
#Reading #Writing #WritingCommunity #Scotland #NatureWriting #Nature #Land #Women #Author
@kristiedegaris "The slow, unglamorous discipline of showing up for myself again and again." Such a simple but powerful sentence. I've read this sentence multiple times now. So, for those with their own battles... keep showing up! 👊 (thanks Kristie 😊)
@kristiedegaris
You are doing the pensive look justice
@kristiedegaris Yes, for deep trauma, the work has to go on inside. Just being in nature isn't going to fix that stuff. But for people who are dealing with ordinary stress, getting out in nature can be very restorative. It takes us outside of ourselves, reminds us of bigger perspectives than the things we typically obsess about and get perturbed by, and gives us a break from the daily habits that keep our minds stuck in ruts. Nature can't replace therapy, but it can play a role in mental health.
@bodhipaksa Absolutely!
Sadly, it can't make the choices or do the work. It won't get you where you need to go if where you need to go requires sustained change. It's a helpful tool to have alongside though.
One of the biggest things that helped me make change was accepting the hard work and time involved. I was looking for magic pills and quick fixes before and it only did me harm.
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If all I’d done was climb a munro, walk among the proud piles of fallen stone at Craignavar, and build walls across Perthshire, nothing fundamental in my life would have shifted. Those moments mattered, but they weren’t a cure. Not even close.
