A heartfelt story shared by Kelsey. A story of her deeply personal journey of healing through a connection with the outdoors. She recounts how spending time in nature helped her find peace, strength, and a renewed sense of self.
Wandering through the woods I feel the most connected to the Universe. I often think of my relationship with my Higher Power as something like hiking.
Since I can remember, I have always loved to be outside. I was fortunate to grow up in a family that recognized the importance of the outdoors. Therefore, I was exposed to the benefits of nature from a pretty early age. But over the past year or so, my relationship with the outdoors has grown in ways I could not have imagined. About 14 months ago I almost died. I am an alcoholic, and suffered a long seizure and spent over a day in a coma that I am very lucky to be alive and on the other side of. But I am on a long and treacherous road of recovery - mind, body, and spirit. The details of what happened that day do not matter, but what does is the way that nature has helped heal me.
By the grace of whatever Higher Power, I am healthy and I am sober. But the path I am on is a marathon, not a sprint, as we often hear people say. I have had and will continue to have some serious struggles along my healing journey. One of the ways that I have struggled since my seizure is with anxiety and panic like nothing I have ever felt before. Getting outside is one of the most healing things for me. Hiking grounds me. The simple act of just putting one foot in front of the other is a meditative experience that calms my nervous system. The beauty and serenity of Mother Nature calms me as well. Surrounding myself with such immense beauty makes me feel a world away from the dark, cold world I lived in for so long. I feel free outside.
There are a variety of ways in which I choose to spend time outside, but the one that connects and grounds me the most is backpacking. There is just something about immersing yourself in the natural world at that level. Sleeping outside, just existing outside among the trees. In everyday life, I notice a direct connection between my physical and my mental health. Nature allows me to engage with that mind-body-spirit connection. Nature encapsulates this connection between the physical and the spiritual for me and allows me to let go. Nature empowers me to face some of my fears. Sometimes things are hard, or scary, and that is okay. Nature makes me feel a part of something bigger. And that inherently, helps me feel okay.
Nature is where I feel the most myself. It is also the place that has allowed me to do the most physical, emotional, and spiritual healing. Wandering through the woods I feel the most connected to the Universe. I often think of my relationship with my Higher Power as something like hiking. The trail, and all of Mother Nature are God as I understand it. I am the hiker, using my two little legs to work with, not against, the Universe. Together, I will or won’t make it to the top. But that is the will of the Universe. I am a part of something bigger. And I am okay, just as I am.
Grateful for this Universe that holds us.
Connect with Kelsey on instagram.