How Nature Can Support Us During Quarantine

Image by Vikesh Kapoor

I’ve felt all sorts of emotions this past week as I know many of you have. Anxious, overwhelmed, tired, bored, restless, sad. I’ve witnessed friends lose employment, small businesses struggle to survive and an ever-growing wave of anxiety and stress capture our consciousness. 

There are so many people hurting and none of us know how or when life will return to normal. I don’t know if we will endure a large loss of life or if our economy will soon resemble that of the great depression. What I do know is that everyone, no matter how healthy or how wealthy they are or are not will be affected in some way. 

And we all need ways to cope. We need tools to turn to when fear finds a home, when stress makes a nest in our bodies, and when grief knocks at our door. 

Just this time last spring, I went through one of the hardest periods in my life thus far. I was attempting to pivot my career after having resigned from a company I had worked at for almost eight years, one that was such a significant part of my identity. I had been trying to get steady work ever since leaving my full time job, but nothing substantial was coming and I was barely able to make rent. The stress of this persistent uncertainty took its toll on my body. 

I would wake up every night with acid reflux so bad that I felt incredibly overheated, as if I was having a fever. This was accompanied by nightmares every night and I was clenching my jaw so tightly that my teeth would ache all throughout the next day - not to mention that I was exhausted all the time from a lack of sound sleep. The lack of sleep created a whole other set of health problems that I’m not going to get into, but needless to say, I was struggling. Aside from poor health, I also felt so lost - I had built an identity so closely tied to my accomplishments that when I didn’t have anything external to cling to and make me feel worthy, I felt worthless. 

In this time of deep and prolonged despair, I intuitively turned to nature. When I felt hijacked by difficult emotions, I would sit by the Hudson River on the west side of Manhattan and journal. I would watch the Canadian geese waddle around the lawns at the park and listen to the sound of the leaves rustling in the breeze. 

In those moments of almost overwhelming panic, I would feel nature’s stable, grounding presence. The experience of finding my way back to nature and, in time, back to myself, was so profound that it compelled me to start this podcast and what I believe to be my lifelong pursuit, which is to know myself through knowing the natural world.

We have largely lived life indoors, and now that it’s compulsory that we remain inside, we are being magnetized towards nature. Distraction doesn’t work when the discomfort reaches a pitch, which it has during this pandemic.

The uncertainty, fragility and tenuousness of this moment are all part of manmade systems. And when those systems (the things that we consider foundational in our lives) feel like they’re crumbling beneath us, we discover that nature is not crumbling. Nature is not falling apart. When you’re outside, you can sense the grounded energy of the natural world. The sun isn’t panicked, the flowers aren’t stressed, the rivers don’t have anxiety. 

If we are nature - when we return to the natural world, we are also returning to our natural selves, selves that are not dominated by our emotions or our thoughts. 

Even people who have not considered themselves outdoorsy or particularly interested in the natural world are finding themselves longing for nature and the support that it brings, a kind of refuge that human beings alone cannot provide. 

So, I invite you to turn towards nature if you haven’t already - take this time as an invitation to connect with the natural world in a deeper way (if it’s feasible for you - go on a walk, take a hike, swim, simply feel the warm sun on your skin). Let nature hold and support you. Let it serve as a gentle reminder that it’s available and willing to offer us relief and refuge during stressful times.