One Step At A Time- February 04

When life feels challenging, take it as a cue to slow down and move with intention. In today’s '5 Minutes in Nature,' Liz walks along a muddy, flooded trail by the River Exe. The slow, deliberate pace reminds her that tough times in life are best approached one step at a time.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to Five Minutes in Nature with me Liz Scott where every day I'm out in February enjoying nature's wisdom and today I've come out on a walk alongside the River X. Usually when I'm beside the River X I'm in the city centre but I've come further upstream and I'm following a trail called the X Valley Trail and you might be able to hear it is raining and the path that we've been taking and I'm walking with my sister which is why I say we is alongside the river through some very very muddy fields so muddy that we've had to go slowly we're wearing Wellington boots and it's you've got to go so slowly to ensure that you don't step in some mud that then sucks your Wellington boot off and it's been slow that's the only way I can describe it it's been super slow and as we've walked along by the river the fields have been flooded the X has come over the banks and we've seen swans in the middle of the field and we have just kept taking one step at a time and let me just give you an example if I just walk along here you might be able to hear let me just see if you can hear this can you hear that that's me squidging through puddles and mud and the rain is is coming down as I head from Thorveton towards Exeter so that's my destination today and as I've walked along here I've been reflecting quite a lot actually on the need to go slow sometimes in life we do need to go slow sometimes in life the path is hard work like today with the mud in the fields the fields have been absolutely swamped with mud and when the fields are like that it's important just to take one step at a time and you can't go any faster than that and sometimes when you're taking that one step at a time you realize you can't carry on because it's too difficult and you have to retrace your steps and find another route and that really really reminds me of what it is in life where sometimes the going does get tough sometimes it feels like we can get into a quagmire it's muddy it's hard going it's tough moving forward and the only thing that we can do when life is like that is all we can do is take one step at a time that's all we can do in fact when life is really tough and there have been times for me when I found it so tough going and so bleak when I look into a future that frightens me all I know that I can do is just take one step at a time and actually we can do that we're built for that as human beings we're not actually built to imagine futures which is scary or frightening or try and second-guess what we may or may not be doing we are built though for dealing with whatever life throws up in front of us and we will take one step at a time so today for example we had a stream that we needed to cross which usually would be quite easy to cross but today it was it was very high and we looked at each other and we thought can we actually go through this stream is it going to be too tough and we just paused and we looked at the root and we carefully took one step at a time through the stream being aware that if it got too deep we would need to turn back and find another route and we just kept going so remember when life feels tough when the going feels tough that's a reminder for you to slow down it's a reminder for you to not think too much about what may or may not happen in the future all you can do is take one step at a time now and be present and know that whatever you face you will be given an option and an idea of how you can find your way to wherever you need to get to so today in February as I paddle through mud and the puddles just remember take one step at a time and you will know how to go forward even when things look impossible

Reviews

Thanks Liz. Slow down…. Knit, garden or make bread.
🙏🏼

I needed to hear this so so much, dear Liz.
I am deeply touched by this essential reminder.

Your voice soothes my sadness and yes, frustration and self pity...

I am currently facing a heavy flare of trigeminal neuralgia...my right side of the face is only pain.
Having to take medication and not knowing when it will be any better often leads me into very dark places...

I will carry the image of you and your sister deeply im my heart.

Yes, one step at a time.
THANK YOU 💗