Wild words

Spending time observing and writing about the natural world can be transformational

- EMILY WHEELER

MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS WEEK 13TH-19TH MAY

REFLECTIVE JOURNALLING and time spent in nature are both activities that are proven to support our emotional wellbeing, but have you ever tried combining the two? Cultivating a habit of nature journalling attunes us to our environment in a different way, as we become active observers of both our surroundings and our experiences within them. Outdoor spaces have enormous capacity to heal and soothe, both mentally and physically, and writing about them is just one way of engaging with their medicine.

There's no 'one way' to do nature writing, so it's an accessible and personal practice where you pick and choose what feels right for you. Even if you've never engaged with the genre before, now could be the perfect time to start. As a child I loved being outside, and also loved reading books, but I didn't find nature writing until my mid-20s. So much of our cultural storytelling in the West is centred around human (or human-like) characters, with the environment existing only as a background setting. Dialogue and dramatic plotlines often take centre stage and we anthropomorphise the natural world - 'humanising' nature in an attempt to see ourselves reflected in what we read.