Nature Girl and 2009 Recap

I just found this article on MSNBC today: Looking at Nature Makes you Nicer. Cool. I've known for a while that I'm at my happiest when I'm around trees & rocks & water. In fact, when we first moved to the DC area, I started suffering from a Nature deficit - I found that I had to go run out and find a small naturey park and spend some time out there. It's like a reset button. I need it. This year has been wonderful because I've been pushing to be outside more. Getting more sunlight is good, sure, but also explore outdoor exercising opportunities, since I've always been prone to thinking exercise sucks. Sailing was wonderful because it really centered me and felt really primal, just shutting my mind off, listening to the water and paying very close attention to the wind on my skin (I was using that more than visual cues to tell wind direction). There was something very basic about being totally dependent on the weather, wind & water to get where you need to be. I've also been busy exploring all the parks I can find in the area as I figured out my need for trees to keep me interested in running. I'd like to become one of the Running People, but I don't think I'll ever free up enough time in my schedule for that. Now here's the rub. I live near a city, in a pretty densely suburban area, and I think I might currently have more actual access to nature than in rural Pennsylvania. Huh? That's right. This past weekend I went to visit my parents who live about 30 miles +/- southwest of Pittsburgh. The whole area is either farms or suburban developments that used to be farms. I figured I'd find a place to go for a run since there's so much more nature around there. Boy, was I ever wrong. There weren't really any parks within a 20 minute driving radius, other than recreation parks that are open fields and baseball diamonds. Though there were hills and trees and forests all around, they are all owned by someone, and not available for common use. (DON'T get me started on my rant about how Scotland was awesome because of their Land Access Rights... you have rights to go onto, use, pass through, and play on any land even if you don't own it as long as you leave it in the same condition you entered and the owners have a responsibility to maintain access to their land by providing gates or steps over fences.) It disturbed me to realize that in a rural area, full of natural beauty, one does not easily have access to it and that we only seem to regularly get access to it if you live in an area where it seems to be hard to come by and thereby requiring setting aside "nature reserves" and etc. Seems kind of wonky and messed up to me. That's just my thought for the day.

Also, for the record, I now have David Bowie's Version of "Nature Boy" running through my head on repeat.

So I figured it was time to evaluate my Samhain resolutions from last year. All in all, I think I did OK on the stuff that really mattered. I sucked at wearing more hats. I decided not to do the Boo!10K, but am training up for the Jingle All the Way 10K in the beginning of December, so that one kinda worked out. I JUST got a dentist appointment (next Tuesday argh!) because I realized I was running out of time. I ditched those last 10 lbs and toned relatively well. I got better at balancing work, play, relaxation and social, but it was at the expense of housekeeping, so I think I still have a bit to work on there, and I've been much better about the eating better and cooking more part in the past few months. An upward trend is what we're looking for. I kinda let the clothing business slide, but that's because I've kinda let the sewing slide, did a cost benefit analysis on the stress levels that would ensue and started going another direction with trying to figure out how to work on a health and mobility career. Now I'm pursuing certification for Exuberant Animal and things seem to be working out, so we'll see how it goes. : ) I'm pretty pleased. Now to just figure out what to resolve to do this coming year....

Natural Wonders

Christmas was good. Got a Wii from my amazing husband. Yay! More about that some other time.

I think it's a really good thing that I have an East-facing window at work. At least it's nice for that short time right before sunrise until right after. Then from just after until about 9:30 or 10, it's hellish since the sun is right in my eyes even though I've rigged up a visor-headphones system. I digress. I don't know if it's normal, or if it's just the way that I am, but no matter how down I'm feeling, it really helps to see the sunrise. It's peaceful, it's gorgeous, and it's astounding. It just makes me stop and reevaluate everything.... I mean, it makes me realize that there's a lot more to everything at minor people problems, like money, or bills, or time or have-tos or any of that shit. I really need nature, be it sunrises, or rocks & trees and streams to realize that I get way too caught up in the little stuff, the people stuff, the things we create to make ourselves miserable because it seems like we're not happy unless we're miserable if that makes any sense. I'm so glad that we live where we live now. Our old apartment was kinda scrubby-urbans sprawlish. You had to seriously go a ways to find much that was natuaral. Now we live in an area that's more suburban by just a little bit. Sure, we can't exactly walk to the metro anymore (actually, we can, but it would take 45 mins), but I can walk two streets behind me and get a heavily wooded glen to stare at. After a 5 minute drive, I can be lost in a marshy nature preserve (great for bird watching - and it's where I mainly go running). Another 15 minutes and I have a choice between a park trail with another marsh on the potomac and a lake with a nature trail. God, I love rocks, trees, & water... and wind.... I love to go out and let the wind buffet me on a day that's a reasonable temperature. Mmmmm....