This weekend we had a bit of a disaster.
Our (2 year old) loft extension shower leaked into our office below. I say “leak” it was more like the ceiling light fitting had suddenly become a tap & someone had turned it to “full empty”. It was pouring into the room. Obviously it was a huge shock and pretty devastating given that we are going away & renting our house out to lovely tenants who probably aren’t expecting to arrive to a building site for their holiday.
Anyway. We realised pretty quickly that once the water had stopped there wasn’t a huge amount we could do then and there till Monday so we set about the million other jobs we have to complete in the house before we go. After a few hours it was too much. Everything felt very heavy, oppressive, over bearing, our inside space was full of worry & anxiety. You could feel it seeping through the walls far more than the water
“That’s it, no more” I said “Let’s go to the woods”
No one argued, no one challenged the notion that playing out wasn’t as sensible as “getting stuff done” Maybe it was because going to the woods WAS getting stuff done. It was feeding our souls, it was emptying our heads of all the anxiety we felt. We noticed, we spotted, we engaged, we ran and jumped and we talked about what we saw and what we were doing rather than focusing on any of the difficulties our home space was giving us. We were immersed in our surroundings, finding joy in nature and it really really was ever so simple. We just put on our waterproofs and walked out the door.
Afterwards, when we came back, the hard stuff was upon us again, it was still there but for those 3 hours we spent outside it was gone and my goodness it felt good.
That evening I managed to forget all the house problems and relax.
So next time everything goes to totally wrong, you feel anxious, you feel afraid, you don’t know how you are going to cope or what you are going to do. Next time you’re scared to be a grown up, put on your shoes, step outside and go for a walk. Then look around, actually LOOK around at nature because it works, it honestly works. #playoutmore