The single biggest obstacle to enjoying nature is getting outside. Our homes are maintained to have the environment of our precise selection. It also contains all of the screens, information, and diversions that are made with the purpose of capturing and holding our attention. To enjoy the outdoors, we need to in fact get outdoors. Even once we’ve mentally overcome the conveniences of the indoors, I find that there is still another “obstacle” or ready-made excuse – the weather.
All too often, while people want to be restored in the outdoors, but only under their perceived ideal conditions. The controlled environments of our homes fool us into thinking that these conditions are both optimal and preferred. However, the conditions outside of dark, cold, wind, rain, heat, or humidity are all natural in that they are a part of nature. Therefore, to exclude these natural experiences is to exclude great chunks of the available nature that is available to us from which to draw.
In reflecting on this, I was reminded of a quote from Marcus Aurelius:
You shouldn’t be surprised that a fig tree produces figs, nor the world what it produces. A good doctor isn’t surprised when his patients have fevers, or a helmsman when the wind blows against him.
Meditations – Book 8 Paragraph 15
I live in Wisconsin and it should be no surprise to me when the weather turns cold and snowy, and likewise, when rain or bugs are encountered on the trail when camping. I know that these conditions are to be expected, and therefore the fault is with me if I expect otherwise, or that my natural environment should be controlled merely by wish as my home environment is.
This was an important realization for me as I thought about nature snacks. If my main chances for nature snacks are evenings and weekends, then I have to make the most of those chances, no matter what the weather or conditions. I can’t get enough exposure to nature that I need if I am both time constrained as I am and with self-imposed condition constraints. Just as the helmsman shouldn’t be surprised by the wind, neither should I, and I should dress accordingly. However, beyond overcoming the resistance, the weather and the varied weather is another source of nature from which to draw each time that I am outdoors.
This makes me think of a second quote from Marcus Aurelius:
There is no veil over a star.
Meditations – Book 11 Paragraph 27
In this quote, I am reminded that nature, from which I am trying to draw strength and rejuvenation, is and does what it is supposed to do. The star merely performs its job being star, as do trees and rocks and rain. Therefore, rather than being a hindrance to the enjoyment of nature, should I choose to place my focus there, the weather can be one more way in which I separate the natural environment from the built one and a source for natural rejuvenation.
I have a theory that part of the restorative property of nature is that it helps to separate you from your Ego and helps to show the insignificance of yourself and all of the worries or feelings that are weighing on you. When contemplating the vastness of the universe of unveiled stars, it is easier to feel the insignificance of strife with a coworker. The weather has a similar vastness and timelessness, but is also transient, and gives way to the seasons or a passing front. So exposure to the weather can help with the reflection on the insignificance of our current worries, but also serve as a reminder that, these concerns too will pass.
So the next time that it is cold and raining be thankful of the opportunity that has been given to enjoy these parts of nature as well.