You may be noticing when the alarm goes off in the mornings that the early morning darkness of February has lifted and March has brought with it the morning light. The lighter mornings and longer evenings are an early signal that winter is moving aside to let spring roll in.
In the rush and bustle of a busy school week, it can be easy to not make time to get outside and absorb sunlight, nature and the blooming world around, us. But we do not make time, we all have the same amount of time, and we need prioritise what we choose to do with the time that we have. If you have ever found yourself sitting in a classroom, looking out of the window at the green of the field and daydreaming about going outside, pay attention! That feeling is your body and mind communicating to you that humans crave sunlight and the feeling of calm that nature surrounding us can bring. With so much other traffic communicating to our technologically crowded brains, it can be an easy message to overlook, hurry past or even ignore. Please don’t.
As spring arrives, prioritise a time in your week or at the weekend to get outside with the purpose of walking through your world. It is well-documented that being outside in nature can have a significant, positive impact on our feelings of calmness; our connection to the world; our physical health and help to alleviate feelings of worry or stress.
Don’t hurry. Aim to walk slowly and look around – what can you see growing, changing, and starting to bloom? It is lambing season? Are the snowdrops starting to shoot up from the ground? What is surrounding you signalling the change of the season from the winter months? What do you feel hopeful about?
Maybe take your earphones out and ask a friend or family member to keep you company as you go – nature, walking and conversation in one outing is a wonderful trio of things that are beneficial for boosting your wellbeing.
In a world that can feel like it moves in fast-forward, we need to take the time that is our own to feel still and just be in the beauty of the world that surrounds us.
