“No matter what happens, nature is still impressive,” I said hiking Montana De Oro last Friday afternoon, my first quality escape into the natural world since the start of the Spring quarter. The intention behind this statement is that no matter what may happen to me, I’ll always still find the natural world beautiful. My hope is that if this is true, there is always a tunnel to access contentment.
Every time I go outdoors, I marvel at how glorious it is without me having to do anything. I think that we spend a lot of time trying to cultivate beauty in our own lives through our actions, but the natural world doesn’t care. It remains present, and it will always be a part of our world, regardless of the fact that it’s everchanging, just like us.
It’s easy to get caught up in my failures. What it is that I’m doing wrong, wondering if one mishap will be the cause of a certain demise. Placing so much value in one thing makes me feel like I’m defined by it. When I falter, the gratitude instilled in me becomes engulfed by fear.
The other week I was struggling in some of my classes and I made several careless mistakes. The sheer act of my lack of diligence caused me to feel guilty, that if my failures continue to extend, I will have no one to blame except for myself. However, I do not think fear is good guidance. At least not letting it control you. Fear is helpful if you approach it with courage. And that is what I find in nature, courage.
I’ve discussed on this blog before that I find the natural world to be an ideal place for contemplation because it remains neutral. It’s unaffected by my successes and failures and helps me to release any value I may have tied to these situations, and approach it with a clear and logical mind. It’s a reminder that no matter what happens to me, the world will stay as it is meant to be.
What advice would you give yourself? This is a common question I ask when trying to navigate challenges in my life. I try to be honest with myself when I ask this question and give the advice I need to hear. Most of the time when I think logically about my setbacks, I realize that they aren’t as consequential as I make them out to be and that there are opportunities to go about change even if they may be tedious.
Nature is impressive, and it has taught me that no matter what I do, it will stay impressive. It changes in its own separate ways to my changes. But whenever I need a reminder that my actions don’t need to stem from guilt and fear, I crawl through that tunnel to access contentment in a world that will always remain neutral.
Here are photos from the super bloom!
