Earth Day 2015

I think one of the best things I've ever done for my mental health was learn to truly appreciate nature.
To get back to what makes me genuinely happy.
To see every cloud, every blade of grass, with eyes of wonderment and pure fascination.
To have the utmost respect for every living creature on this planet.

When I was a kid growing up in Southern Indiana my life was the outdoors.
Some of my most fondest memories are running through cornfields with cousins, building forts with my big brother, and climbing trees by myself.

Like most people do, as I grew into my teenage years life became all about socialization, fitting in, and surviving school. I totally lost touch with what's real in life.

But as college started to come to a close I began reconnecting to my old ways; spending all of my free time outdoors. During the short New England summers there wasn't a weekend I wasn't out fishing in the kayak.

Flash forward to today, 26 and learnin' new tricks, I spend my evenings outside at our local greenway
every. single. day.
Just walking. Alone. Stopping to admire everything like it's new to me. Just like when I was a child.
I'm meditating and reviving my spirit without even trying.

Compared to my teenage years / early 20's, I'm a lot more calm. I handle intense situations a lot better. I can lasso my over thinking mind and tame my anxiety. Bad news rolls off my back.

What I'm trying to get at here is that nature is reviving. This planet provides us with everything we need to live a happy, healthy life. A pet peeve of mine is when people label me a 'hippy, hipster, crunchy, wacko' you name it. I'm not any of those things.

I'm a human.

Happy Earth day friends. 

Remember: the best things in life aren't things.