> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://thecopperden.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # A Return to Nature - URL: https://thecopperden.com/a-return-to-nature/ - Published: 2025-04-07T00:57:33.000Z - Updated: 2025-04-07T17:22:38.000Z - Description: This week was certainly unique. Times like this can cause my anxiety to spark, but I consider how nature might be a calming solution. - Author: Connor Masterson It’s safe to say this has been a pretty stressful week. As someone who gets anxious, I struggled with the inundation of news that came this week. The sheer amount of uncertainty that was introduced caused my head to race with thoughts. I had (unfounded) visions of everything I know collapsing. There’s a lot of ongoing construction near my apartment, and I imagined things getting so bad that the construction couldn’t finish. These skyscrapers and unfinished buildings would be left like the skeletons of decaying giants, a physical manifestation of a world about which I worried. In these moments, my thoughts swirl and collect mass like a snowball rolling downhill, no matter how practical they are. Oftentimes, they’re not very. Normally, I’m not one to constantly re-fresh news websites, but that’s what I found myself doing. Nothing good would come of it, but it felt like something I could do. Some trick of my mind to exert a fake kind of control over a chaotic world. What can I even begin to do in moments like these? Well, I decided to go for a walk. It wasn’t the most life changing decision I’ve ever made, but it helped me refocus. Breathe. It wasn’t the first time walking has helped me out. I once read about how the three Ms (movement, music, and meditation) are a good place to smart when you aren’t feeling right. Sometimes I will listen to music. Other times, a podcast or audiobook is more fitting. Even sometimes I won’t listen to anything aside from the world around me. This walk didn’t fix everything for me immediately, but it did give me an idea. I thought about how nature might be a good sanctuary in times like this. Things feel crazy in our manmade world right now, but nature is always itself. There’s no way nature should be – it just is. A fallen tree isn’t some sort of failure. Maybe it fell because it grew old, and a strong wind knocked it over. Regardless, it doesn’t stop becoming a part of nature. It’s just there in a new form. Likewise, the bends in a river aren’t part of some long-term plan. They’re just there because – bit by bit – time eroded this path for the water. There isn’t a more ideal path to follow. These ideas were comforting to me this week. When the road ahead looks uncertain, I try to remind myself that we’re all just a part of nature. I can’t change all the circumstances around me overnight, but I can accept the way they are and do the best I can going forward. --- If you found this post interesting, please consider [subscribing](https://thecopperden.com/#/portal/signup) so that the next post gets delivered straight to your inbox!