Zinnia is a Peer Navigator at OTR and has written a blog about getting closer to nature – and it can be way simpler than you may think! Check out the ideas below…
ALSO: Our self-help zine this month is alllll about nature. You can download and print it, or come along to one of our Hubs to pick it up in person.
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I love nature! It is a source of solace, inspiration, adventure and more for me. We all have individual experiences of nature, though, and it can mean a million things other than grassy hills – that’s what’s exciting about it!
If you caught us on BBC Radio Bristol (listen here from 54 mins!) you will have heard Cat talking about how ‘nature’ does not need to be a camping weekend or sea swimming; the smallest and seemingly simple things we do each day to connect with nature can be useful for lifting your mood, lowering stress and maintaining wellbeing. Below I have collected from various people and written some ideas and exercises to help ‘get outdoors’:
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Open your curtains – get some light into your room. 🌤
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And a window – let in some fresh air.
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Take three deep breaths!
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Name five things you can sense outside – the sound of a car, the colour of a plant, the smell of someone cooking.
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Sit outside for a morning tea/coffee/squash, even on a doorstep or by an open window for some sunshine and fresh air while you wake up. ☕
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If going outside for walks right now is difficult, bring some plants inside – potted herbs, succulent plants, tomatoes for example.
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Watch a nature documentary. 📺
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Or an animation with amazing nature scenery.
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Learn about local inner city projects in nature – city farms, community gardens, local food producers.
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Learn about nature (cool plants, funny animals) in another part of the world you want to visit in the future. 🌏
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Watch cool natural phenomenon videos like this one!
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Make a playlist of songs that reminds you of being outdoors/nature. 🎶
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Create your own music using samples from nature sounds or using the theme of nature as a starting point.
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Relax Melodies is a free app you can download to layer noises like a campfire crackling, crickets chirping or a waterfall etc.
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Sky Map is a free app you can use to look at star constellations! 💫
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Think about what the words “nature”, “outdoors” and “environment” mean to you – is it grass, clean air, community, something else?
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Write with nature/outdoors/environment as inspiration words. ✍
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As above but paint, draw a comic, make a blog post, do your makeup or choreograph some dance inspired by nature.
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Look after a small piece of nature – feed the birds that visit your garden, make a hedgehog hotel, join a local park clean up. 🐤
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Do you have any animal pals? Spend time with them.
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Passionate about environmental issues? Explore it! Volunteer for nature, write to your local MP if you feel passionate about saving wild spaces or tackle food waste issues by trying preserving/pickling etc.
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Take photos of nature and/or outdoors every day for a month and compile them all. 📸
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Make some art with materials from nature. You can make natural dyes at home!
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Or ‘found’ art from things you came across on a walk like bottle tops or old shopping lists.
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Run a bath with ingredients from nature: ie oats, oils, ginger, salts. 🛀
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Get outside – even a short evening stroll around the block.
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Make it longer – choose somewhere new to explore.
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Invite a friend or family, or go with a local walking group you feel comfortable in.
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Put a date in the diary to get somewhere you really love but cannot get to very often – like the beach for example. 📆
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Foraging – free food! Here is a list of UK foods that can be foraged.
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If these foods aren’t available for you to forage, share a seasonal meal (from the supermarket/local market) with a friend. Asparagus soup anybody? 🥣
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Make your own list of ideas and exercises you might use when you need a ‘pick me up’ or more nature in your life and make another of your favourite things about nature/being outdoors – rain on a tent/conservatory roof/bus window, walking on a pier eating chips (and watching out for seagulls).
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Take some time for yourself with your phone on silent mode to sit outside or (when it’s a little bit warmer) take your shoes off for the grass-in-toes feeling. 🌾
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There are some warmer months ahead – hopefully you can incorporate some of these exercises into your life and enjoy ‘getting outdoors’.
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If you have any more suggestions, let us know online – use the hashtag #OTRoutdoors and write to us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter!