Hello and welcome to Five Minutes in Nature with me Liz Scott.
Every day in January I'm taking you outside as I go walking and today as I go out it's about dusk and the snow is falling.
All day we've had sleety rain.
It's not quite settled on the ground but now the sleet has turned to snow and it's just softly coming out of the sky.
If I turn around and look towards the hillside above my house well I can't see much because it's surrounded by a white cloud of what I assume is snow falling probably harder and thicker higher up the hillside.
One of the things about snow particularly when it first falls is that it is so exquisite isn't it?
I can still see the green of the grass and each little blade of grass has got its own ridge of snow on it and out in the hedgerows there are different plants,
Ferns growing,
Different leaves,
Each have a coat of white snow.
Everything is looking quite pristine.
This is before the snow gets trampled and goes slushy and muddy or icy.
This is the best bit of snow I think when it's freshly falling and if I turn around I can see my footprints and the footprints of my dog.
I'm taking the dog out for a walk in the snow and I can see the track of where I've walked in the snow and it just makes me reflect on the importance of looking back at where we've come from.
Often we march through life,
Certainly I do,
I don't know about you,
I'm always looking to the next thing,
Moving on to the next project and you know sometimes what I don't do is just reflect on where I've been and it can be really useful to turn around and to see the tracks that you've made in your life so far and to see the journey that you've travelled and just to acknowledge that journey.
You see today I was feeling quite flat and low and I just had lost my mojo and I spoke to a friend and I just said to her you know what I'm just feeling a little bit out of sorts,
Nothing to worry about I'm just one of those days I don't feel motivated and I've just found it quite hard to motivate myself after Christmas and she just said look you've been through a lot.
I had a family bereavement late last year and another friend died as well so I ended up going to two funerals in the same week just before Christmas and then of course there was Christmas and all that that entails and meeting people and the family commitments that come with that and she just said look you've been through a lot don't be hard on yourself don't think you should be any further ahead than you are and in that moment what she did is she just helped me turn around and look back and go oh yes she's right I can see the path that I've trod over the last few weeks and months and do you know what it has been tough.
It's fair to say that I have probably been depleted of energy I have been feeling grief and sadness and it makes sense that I might be here in January feeling a sense of lowness of inertia a lack of motivation and so just taking that time to turn around and look back at what I've been through and I would really recommend you do the same as well just acknowledge the journey you've been on over the last few weeks and months has it been easy has it been hard has it been full of joy has it been busy just acknowledge where you've been and give yourself a break don't be hard on yourself if you're finding things hard at the moment just be kind with yourself just remember you're on a journey and just keep putting one foot in front of the other and just acknowledge yourself for where you are now don't try and pretend you feel differently or think you should feel differently just acknowledge where you are and allow yourself to feel absolutely okay with wherever you are be kind to yourself and also be kind to others because don't forget they too are on a journey and they too might be finding things hard at the moment and they too might have had some tough times that they've been through so that's the wisdom of nature and the wisdom of the snow today
