Many years ago, I felt boxed-in and isolated in my city lifestyle. I was emotionally exhausted, verging on burnout, and it felt like my lifestyle caused me to sacrifice access to deep nature.
I felt unfulfilled in my career producing content commercials and films for corporate clients. There was a lack of connection in my marriage. There was a general sense of discontent in my life. I wanted to be closer to nature. I really craved peace and quiet away from my life’s struggles.
Being without a car, I started finding hiking trails that were train accessible and making day trips to go hiking in state parks outside of the city.
I saw more animals than I had seen in the past. I marveled at certain trees and rock formations in ways that I wasn’t doing as much in the past. I saw eagles, snakes, deer families, and more, all at close range. On these day trips I started doing, something was different than my experiences visiting beautiful places the past. I felt more connected to nature than I ever had before.
Once I had done this for a couple months, I realized that something in me was changing. Now, even in the city, I started noticing things about the natural elements that I hadn’t noticed before. My senses were extremely elevated. My entire life experience changed. My curiosity reached a level that it never had before. I started getting creative ideas out of nowhere. In the middle of my loneliness, I suddenly felt like I belonged to something. All the sudden, I started noticing the diversity of bird life on the streets and in the parks. I noticed the pattern on every tree’s bark and the shape and color of every tree’s leaves. But I also noticed the nasty pollution-laden fumes of burnt gasoline, just as much I would notice the pleasant scent of leaves after the rain.
Suddenly, those city parks which previously didn’t seem good enough to satisfy my craving for nature provided me with a whole plethora of experiences. With elevated senses, the world became exciting again. I started to see all of these interesting things that others would think of as mundane. I started noticing the habits of dogs on the sidewalk, the way they would do scent marking for the other dogs that will pass by. I noticed interesting shapes in running water in my sink that I didn’t notice before, the changing gradients of colors in the sky as the days unfolded, and on and on…
All of my senses came to life: sight, smell, hearing, and touch, and even taste. Eventually, I learned how to forage in the city parks. I loved tasting the fresh gout weed shoots that pop up in the spring, the lambs quarters leaves in the summer, and the array of berries.
I began to appreciate how my art and visual effects background gave me the ability to see things that most other people don’t notice. Because of my love of cooking, I already had a keen sense of smell. My newfound awareness has given my ability to hear the bird and squirrel sounds behind the curtain of sirens, car horns, and motorcycles. I realized that I’ve always had many skills and interests that gave me the power to experience nature in a profound way. It had been muted.
Over time I had realized that the expectations of society had caused me to live a cookie cutter life. Far too often, I sat between walls instead of trees. I wanted to please my ex-wife, I wanted to make my parents proud of me, and I wanted to continue developing my career into “success.”
After connecting to nature on a deep level, it all came crashing down.
My deep connection to nature led me to discover my purpose. Now, I help people find meaningful connection and personal growth by tapping into nature’s power, even in the busiest urban environments. I provide nature-based life coaching to creatives and technology professionals in New York City and around the world to find stress relief and achieve lasting work-life balance.
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