This past month was bittersweet. Despite summer approaching rapidly, the stress seemed to only grow with each day, with more papers, exams, and projects all requiring my utmost attention. Not to mention the constant badgering from friends and family to spend more time with them and to not “worry about school so much all the time.” Between all the stressors of April, both academically and socially, I still found time to enjoy some time outside. Making time for Blunn has been a priority this entire semester. I walked over last week to Blunn Creek for my final blog entry. Getting out of the library and away from my Macbook was the breath of fresh air that I needed (quite literally). I laid out in the sun by the creek, soaking up the rays of the warm Austin afternoon. Spending even just 1o to 20 minutes out in this area does something magical to my brain. Even just sitting in silence, watching the water, listening to the birds, feeling the warmth of the sun, has a way of making even the worst of days better. I can forget for a little bit the anxieties of the day, the week, the month. My heart rate dropped to a far calmer beat, and as I walked back to campus for round 2 of studying for my Art History exam, I felt like I was walking on air. Each step was easier, slower, yet I somehow got back in a seemingly shorter amount of time than it had taken to arrive at the nature preserve. Perhaps it was the calm state of mind–when I feel rushed, every trip seems to take longer, to not be moving fast enough. But in Blunn Creek, I can let go of time for a little bit, and instead enjoy each moment to the fullest rather than wish I had more. By doing this, I usually end up wasting the little time I have–so instead I actively appreciate each moment. Things feel slower, but end up moving faster, without my realizing. My mind was at ease, and so was my stress level. Approaching my study materials once more, I felt more confident than ever. And I got an A. That’s the power of nature. Allowing my mind to just go completely blank, to be completely present in my immediate natural environment is an incredible experience. It’s like meditating–my awareness increases and my breathing slows. It’s suddenly easier to recognize and filter through what is actually important and what can be let go of. I stop beating myself up for past mistakes, and find it easier to appreciate the small things. Watching small rabbits hop by in the distance, making ruffles in the leaves, I smiled and thought to myself, “it’s really all going to be all right.” In the words of the late, great, Aldo Leopold, from his A Sand County Almanac, “To those devoid of imagination a blank place on the map is a useless waste; to others, the most valuable part.”
Another semester, come and gone. This class encouraged me to step outside of both myself and my world. Every month I dedicated time to reflecting on my experiences in Blunn Creek, and each time I found more and more joy in the task. Looking at the Wordcloud of this past year, a couple words stand out in my mind: “water,” “beautiful,” “trees,” “noticed,” and “creek.” These words, apart from being some of largest (and thus most used) words in the cloud, resonated with words I find myself using often in writing my blog posts for the Travis County Almanac. I spent each blog post sitting beside the creek, listening to the water, noticing the wildlife, admiring the beauty found in the trees around me. As the semester went on, the area only grew more and more beautiful. The spring rains led to new growth, and the nature preserve seemed to grow so large in such a short amount of time. From January to May, the difference is striking. Where the trees once seemed bare and cold in the dead of winter, they are now lush and green, new once more. My stress levels decreased on days spent in Blunn Creek. I looked forward to writing my post, to have an academic reason to take a break (and a hike). It was fun to bring a friend or two along as well, to have their input on the scene to improve my own experience in nature. Sharing this time with the blog has been so rewarding. I love to write, and to write on something so captivating as my experiences in one of my favorite places in Austin was pure joy this past semester. I think it’s interesting how I personally contributed to the use of the words I mentioned earlier, from my class’ Wordcloud. It seems to me that everyone likely had a similar, positive experience completing these blog entries. The most used words were some I used regularly, and it warms my heart to see that the majority of others in this course felt similarly about visiting their respective natural areas each month. Inside the classroom, I learned much that I was able to apply to my trips outside for the blog. Learning about how organisms interact within an ecosystem was particularly interesting to me, and it was rewarding to see what I had learned in class actively taking place in the “real world.” It feels so often that concepts learned in other classes are intangible, a bit abstract. But in this course, it only required a step outside to see, hear, and experience what was learned in the classroom. This, to me, was the most powerful experience I had in Environmental Science this past semester. The course truly explained to me what anthropogenic issues need to be addressed, and how. I thought critically about each topic, and found ways in my everyday life to incorporate and address these needs. The lessons learned, both in and out of this class, will forever stay with me, just like my memories of blogging in Blunn Creek.