Getting back to nature
I’ve been spending a lot of time in the last couple of weeks looking at the night sky. Where I live in Northern New Mexico, there are really big skies, and we’re far away enough from city lights where you can see shining stars clearly at night. There was the Perseid meteor shower in July and August where you could see a handful of shooting stars every minute. I’ve also been out walking at night a lot recently and there hasn’t been much moonlight at night, and so I’ve been able to gaze up and see the sky filled with stars, some that shine brightly, others twinkling with different colors. You can even see the Milky Way very visibly as it cuts a swath of light across the sky – check it out for yourself.
One of the really nice things that I’m looking forward to on this trip is being more in nature. We get so used to city life and being busy all the time, that sometimes we forget to connect with the earth. I plan to do a lot of camping, which means that I get to be more connected to nature than I ever have been. Many of the stresses in life tend to dissolve when you surround yourself with nature. Without having city lights to keep things lit at night, it’s a lot easier to go to bed early and wake up with the sunrise which is much healthier for our bodies. Campfires at night are cozy and smell great. Falling asleep to the sound of the forest can be nice, kind of like sleeping next to an ocean. And lots of fresh air and hiking is invigorating!
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