Dive into Nature

I don´t know about you but I need nature around me

When I was highly depressed in a state where I couldn´t sleep cause my head didn´t wanted to shut up I was walking around in nature all night. Later, whenever I felt overwhelmed in my therapy or at work I felt drawn to the water to calm me down.

I grew up in the middle of the forest, I need nature around me, I can´t live in the city.

My “safe space” in my mind has always been a wooden house in front of a lake, with a big forest in the back and some mountains around. Over the years it slightly shifted to more open spaces. I love the open space of the ocean, the endless blue sea touching the blue of the horizon. Or the yellow rapeseed mixed with the grass-like corn fields opening after driving over a hill on my motorbike in Germany.

The are only two options when I feel bad. Either my bed in fetal position with ice cream and a movie or going out into nature.

I embrace both by the way.

I think that´s also the reason why I loved my van life. I just need to open the door and basically be in nature. Everything that make me truly happy (besides sex) happens in nature. Diving, van life, driving my motorbike, climbing, swimming…

Maybe it´s different for other cultures but Germany is such a cold country that we spend most of our days inside. In winter I often arrived in the office when it was still dark and left when it was dark again. And guess what? I didn’t even went outside in my break cause guess what? I was such a work addict that I didn´t prioritized my personal time and well-being over work. I didn´t even made a break!

2 years I pushed myself to go jogging every morning. Winter and summer. 5:30am out of bed, into the jogging clothes and off you go.

Funnily enough – I HATE jogging! What I loved was being out in the nature. When the day starts, the morning dust still hangs over the ground, the birds start to sing…that was good for me. Not the jogging part when your legs hurt and you can´t breathe. Still don´t know why I tortured myself with that for 2 freaking years!

This year I wanted to find a way back into sport. I wanted to do something every day with low cost and lots of nature. Well yes, jogging comes in mind, right? Bah. I still hate it. But then I thought about the nature part.

So, I started to go for a walk every morning. Not the slow we-just-enjoy-this-park-view walk. A tight 5k march in under 1 hour. Still enough time to suck in nature and stop for a nice picture. And it touches my soul every time.

Same effect from diving

Diving has the same effect on me.

The silence, the beauty of sunrays falling through the surface, the feeling to be a part of it not only a visitor. This feeling is even more intense when I freedive.

It´s a funny description but whenever I´m in nature, even under water, I finally have the feeling I can breathe.

Rock climbing was challenging for me. First of all I need to fully trust the person on the ground – the belayer. Ha! Me, with my well learned trust issues. Then I needed to learn to trust myself. Also not easy. Especially when you´re also afraid of spiders and you need to grab into a hole that triggers this fear like hell. What if…? Will you fight the fear or will you let go, fall and trust the belayer? Not an easy choice, right?

But boy, once you got over all of that and you arrive at the top, you rest there and you finally give yourself the time to look around. You are 25m above the ground in the mountains on a wall – this view is priceless!

I really don´t understand why we don´t honor the beauty of nature enough. Why we need to destroy all that for some materialistic profit.

Studies have proven the mental benefit of nature on our nervous system. But instead of finding a way to live together with it we choose to destroy it for faster and easier money.

Nature and movement

I learned for myself that I need nature and I need movement.

In my deepest hours of my life I did it unconsciously. I thought I needed just to move, walk to be able to think better. Well, I also could have paced up and down in my room, right? I didn´t. I always went outside. Into nature. So, it was the combination. The distraction of body and mind in combination.

The sport that challenged my mind and body. I went into the gym 6 days a week for years. That didn´t calmed down my mind. I can count and wrap my head around work in the same time. I love swimming but it´s the same problem.

Wanna take a walk with me?

But bouldering and climbing kept my mind busy. Every route is a riddle. There is no space to think about work or other problems.

Now you can say walking in the fields also doesn´t keep my mind busy and distracted.

True, you are right. I don´t need to. I have reached a state of mind where I don´t wrap my head around problems any more. I can silence them and let my thoughts drift to more mindful ways.

I learned to listen to my feelings and can use this time to try to figure out why I feel the way I feel, dig deeper, dive into it and listen to what I need to feel more happy, more safe or whatever it is.

Most of the time. I still have my struggling times to be honest.

Sometimes problems solve themselves on the side cause. Not always but that´s also fine. The answer will come when the time is right.

I´ve learned to drift with the current, enjoy the way instead of fighting the current.

Even if you need to fight the current, staying calm and down rush it is the best way to do it.