Our Need For Nature

Our Need For Nature

Up until this year, I had primarily worked full time. Then in April, I started a part time contract. Since then it has varied, but more often than not, I don’t work five days per week. Recently worked picked up a little and I was flung back into five day weeks. And it’s hard to get back into that!

 

Last Friday I felt tired but kind of anxious, I’m not even sure if that’s the right word, but lets just go with it. I knew that if I went home and stayed home, I would fall asleep. And if I fall asleep early, I wake up UBER early. As Rachel said to me last week, I’m like a toddler!! Don’t send me to bed too early, or there will be hell to pay the next morning.

 

Of course, being this tired ends up as a catch-22 situation. Too tired to think of anything to do, but desperately needing something to do. In the end I went for a convenient fall back option – BBQ at the beach. Even defrosting some meat and packing up the BBQ bag felt like a bit much.

 

Once I got there, I was totally relaxed. No more anxiety. No more tiredness. Just getting to be outside was all I needed. Even cooking in giant wind gusts was all ok with me.

 

Our Need For Nature

 

I feel like it shouldn’t have, but it totally amazed me. From just wanting to crawl up onto the couch and hope I stay awake until “bedtime” to cooking, walking, talking and generally feeling GOOD.

 

I looked back on my week. I had bought a ton of salad ingredients before work on Monday so that I had easy to make, healthy wraps for lunch every day. Success. They looked and tasted great. But also a fail. Because they were giant, yummy wraps, I stayed in the kitchen at work for lunch and didn’t go outside. They were kind of hard to eat without falling everywhere.

 

Basically, last week I improved my physical health at the expense of my mental health. I didn’t know how much my normal habit of wandering aimlessly outside at lunchtime helped me.

 

This work-life-health balance thing is hard to get right!

 

How do you manage getting outside enough? Or eating vs walking vs anything else?

 

Linking up with Essentially Jess for IBOT.

 

20 Replies to “Our Need For Nature”

  1. Oh yes – I remember when I first when back to full time work after having my kids. It was hard – such an adjustment. With regards to nature – I totally agree! I have written on the subject many times. We need nature and regular doses of it. It is so good for the soul 🙂

    1. It must harder after having kids, especially if you had a significant amount of time off. Such a change in patterns.

  2. I am ashamed to say that I take Vitamin D because I get outside so little! You may have motivated me to try it more often though! x

    1. I think anything that keeps you healthy is good!

  3. Going outside always makes me feel better too, even just seeing friends makes tiredness feel better!

    1. The tiredness part really amazed me! It was just gone.

  4. I need a daily dose of outside and sun or I feel awful. I try to go for a run or walk or take ten minutes and read a book in the sun. Does wonders for me.

    1. It’s kind of scary to think we have to make the time to do it though.

  5. I go nuts if I can’t get some time outside in the fresh air and sunshine. I think that’s why I hate winter so much. Going to the beach is my go to down time activity.

    1. Now that I live by the beach, I can’t move away. It’s just better!

  6. How wonderful to be revived by nature and fresh air! I used to go for walks on my lunch break but now I usually spend it in the lunch room socialising. I try to get my doses of nature on the weekend, but perhaps I need to increase my exposure frequency!

    1. I’m not social enough to talk to people through my lunch break haha. That’s my space time.

  7. We were so fortunate to have gorgeous lawns around our office building, so best of both worlds 🙂

    Hello from #teamIBOT

    1. I’m also pretty lucky with a good selection of places to walk at lunch time.

  8. Fresh air always guarantees lifting my mood. That and a juice of beetroot, celery, green apple and plenty of ginger!
    I wish I made more time to do all these things more often, though.

    1. I know, fitting them in is the hardest part. I can’t do that ‘schedule’ me time, it doesn’t feel genuine or natural if I do that.

  9. I go running every day so that gets me outside but I also have to take Vit D because it’s just not enough.

    1. I have been absolutely terrible with exercise this year. I’m currently ignoring the fact I need to start up again.

  10. I know that if I spend too much time in the house then I start to get cabin fever. I feel better even just sitting in my garage while Mr 5 rides his bike up and down the footpath.

    1. It’s amazing how just a little bit helps.

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