River Magic
These last few weeks have been draining at work. The pandemic has such a negative impact on so many people which resulted in me last weekend feeling overwhelmed and huddled up in the house with my dogs.
At the start of this week I forced myself to make space in my working week to get out.
On Wednesday, some of my friends were planning to kayak, they were happy to move the start time to allow me to have a longer lunch break and join them.
We met at the start point and I was still forcing myself, I was quiet and detached from the group – still full of ‘gloom and doom’. I put my boat on the water and as others warmed up I just wanted to get back off.
Paddling down at the back of the group, my low mood made me doubt my skills as we moved into the bumpier water. I took all the easy lines, still not feeling as comfortable as everyone else seemed to be.
I moved myself out in front of the group, just to not have anyone else in my sight and I tried to just look around, really see the Autumn colours and the landscape of the Findhorn valley. I started to feel the magic. My mood lifted, I became aware that I was smiling. Soon I was challenging myself, laughing when something went wrong and connecting with my friends. I had forgotten about the stress of life.
The environment fully engaged me both physically and mentally, made me focus on the ‘here and now’, feeling the shock of the cold water splash but with my body warm, responding to what it was asked to do.
The river worked its magic and I came off feeling renewed and with my doom and gloom washed away. Getting out into nature is a beautiful escape from this very strange world.
It is Friday now and I am still able to pull these memories out and run the film in my mind which sure helps to pushe the doom and gloom away.
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Blog kindly written by Mags Duncan