Hello and welcome to Five Minutes in Nature with me Liz Scott and today I brought you to one of my favourite places.
I'm not far from home,
Probably about 45 minutes away and I'm sitting on a bench in a wooded area overlooking a freshwater lake.
It's called Slapton Lay and this freshwater lake is very special because there's a strip of land,
There's a road along this piece of land,
A strip of land that separates the lake from the sea,
From the ocean.
So from my vantage point sitting on this bench I can see the lake in front of me,
Slapton Lay.
I can see a reed bed and a road and then beyond that the blue of the ocean itself.
And there's something magical about this place.
I come here fairly regularly.
My husband and I bring our camper van to this area even though it's still in Devon and even though it's quite local.
If we just want a few days away this is often the place we come to.
And today my reflection is one of innate resilience.
The resilience and inbuilt resilience that we all have access to.
When we started our camping trip yesterday and we pulled up to the campsite there was a lady next to us and her van had German number plates on.
It was a small camper van and she'd towed with her a caravan and outside her camper van was this beautiful golden Labrador sitting perfectly still just lapping in everything that was going on.
And we wanted to just say how much we loved her dog and she was keen to talk and she was traveling on her own.
She'd traveled from Germany and she said have you seen my rabbits?
And we were like what do you mean your rabbits?
And then she pointed to the caravan that she had towed and set up and around this caravan was a metal pen and she said that caravan is where my rabbits live.
And not only have I got three rabbits giant rabbits I've brought with me I've also bought another dog and in the camper van on a cushion was another smaller dog just watching the world go by.
So she had traveled from Germany with two dogs and three rabbits and she was staying on the campsite for a couple of weeks and we talked a little bit about dogs and we were admiring what she had done and how incredible it had been that she'd come all this way with her animals and she said no I do it all the time.
I often come over and I really enjoy traveling around the UK.
And then we got on to talking about dogs and our elderly dog Buzz that unfortunately we had to put to sleep a few weeks ago.
And she then told us a story of how she had brought her elderly dog with her last year and that dog had become very seriously ill whilst she was in Wales and despite getting the vet and trying out lots of treatment eventually she had to make the very hard decision to put her dog to sleep.
And as she was telling us this story she was touched and and saddened with the memory understandably so.
And she just explained that it had been really hard and the dog had died and she still had a week on holiday and it had been so hard being on holiday without her beloved dog.
And as she was speaking I just listened out for that incredible resilience that she has and she was expressing as she spoke she might not have seen it herself but I could see it.
And I just imagined that there she was on her own she didn't have a partner she was traveling in a foreign country hundreds of miles from home and she had to make that really hard decision around her beloved pet.
But what it showed me was the resilience that she has and the resilience that comes to the fore not just for her but for all of us when we need it.
And that's what I wanted to share with you today it's to remind you that you are made of resilience that resilience is part of who you truly are.
And when you come up against stuff that feels challenging you can look within to that resilience and it will guide you one step at a time it will guide you on your journey.
So I just wanted you to be reminded today that whatever happens in life and whatever's going to happen in life you can always trust and look within to your resilience.
