Nature’s Healing Power: Where Have the Wild Times Gone?

Nature’s Healing Power: Where Have the Wild Times Gone?

When’s the last time, as adults, you splashed in a puddle, built a fort in the woods, or did anything spontaneous within the world around you? When we can combine nature with creativity, we find ourselves living in a limitless world of possibilities. When we peel away from screens, and tap into the rough cut environment, we’re forced to connect with the world around us in an unstructured way that can lead us to exploring our own backyard.

I was one of those kids that looked and blamed society for my problems. My ‘not so’ unique solution was to isolate myself in my room. As a young teen, I was a part of the early boom of social media platforms like Facebook; and this was even before ads and influencers. Looking back now, I remember times with friends and cousins in the woods exploring as the moments in which I was the most present.

Adolescents today are exposed to stressors that children have never before experienced prior to social media; forever wars, epidemics, climate disasters, economic collapses and the list can go on and on. A vast majority of these issues are outside the control of any one person. In turn this has led to drastic increases in anxiety amongst youth. When unchecked anxiety lingers for too long often the outcome is depression. What was once acuity with an outward expression has evolved into chronicity with an inward focus. Looking at Maslow’s safety needs for a stable environment, nature and wilderness come to mind. The woods for me have been an environment that has filled me with empowerment and continuity. The power of nature teaches us to reconnect with play, a sense of resilience, and a therapeutic space to connect to something bigger.

I remember a time when my summer day camp counselor was most excited about showing us bits of nature around our community. I have vivid memories of him lacing up some tall combat boots and thinking “what are we getting into” just before we started our much longer than anticipated march. With the boiling sun coming down and midwest humidity of July, my counselor thought it’d be a good day to lead us 10-year-olds through a 5-mile creek walk. Needless to say, all of us kids had momentary meltdowns and questioned the tactics of our “fearless” guide. In the end, with sore feet and bruised egos, something changed in the group that day. We grew together through our challenges by supporting one another. Through shared experiences of hardship, we were all able to hold the mirror up to one another and discover parts unseen, our blind spots. We learned from our setbacks and had to problem-solve as a team while navigating tricky treefalls and rocky creek bottoms. After every obstacle, you could see grins shine as the dial for our self-worth and ability turned up a few notches.

How extraordinary a life was meant to be…
The following song features a reading by meditation expert and spiritual teacher, Guy Burgs. His narration shares the sentiment of everything above in a beautiful manner. I hope it inspires you as it has inspired me.

Signed,
Carson McNeely
Outdoor Engagement Supervisor