Wildflowers Heal the Soul

            On my second hike at the Nature Center, we walked the Oak Mont trail. It was a flat two mile trail through the prairie habitat, but something special about walking this trail in the springtime is seeing its multitude of wildflowers. One of my most favorite things about Texas are its wildflowers, especially bluebonnets. April is the peak bloom time for wildflowers in Texas, so this trail was covered with them while we were hiking it. Seeing the flowers really highlighted all the other prairie vegetation that the Nature Center has worked to conserve and bring back from being overtaken by invasive species. While we were walking along the trail, at times, it felt like we were walking through a traditional American landscape painting because the bright blue sky was contrasting the tall prairie grasses and patches a red, violet, yellow, and white flowers. It was serene. This hike reminded me of how the wilderness has been able to reenergize me. It restores my soul in a divine way. In the past several years, a trendy way to talk about self-care is by “filling you cup” because you cannot pour into others if your cup is empty. Spending time in nature has consistently always been something that not only fills my cup, but helps me process the things going on in my life. It makes me think about a time when the human race had more of a partnership with nature around them. Sadly, now I think we have more of a parasitic relationship with nature, and we place little value on the sustainability of the foundation that supports us, the literal Earth we live on. My tiny tangent about how nature is so good for the soul reminds me of our reading from earlier this semester when Abbey and Leopold. I think spending time in nature slows people down enough to remind them of their humanity, and I think that is the point a lot of the naturalist philosophers are trying to make in their writing. We need the wilderness around us because without it there is no escape from the rat race our society has turned into. I am grateful this class made me realize how powerful nature can be for the human soul and gives me an excuse to spend some much-needed time amongst the wildflowers.