If you’re a Broadway fan you finished reading that title by singing the words, “It’s time to go, I hate to leave, I have to, though.” If you’re not a Broadway fan you have no idea what song the above lyrics are from, and I’ll do my best to not hold that against you. We can’t all be awesome.

Throughout this 21 month health journey there is no place that has helped ground me more, heal me more, and helped me find myself more than the woods. I live near Fontenelle Forest and it’s a true gem 15 minutes from a metropolitan city. I walk into the woods and my heart beats slower, my smile gets bigger, and my soul sighs with joy. Being among the trees is truly healing for me. There are a couple of lessons I have learned from my time in the forest beyond the usual of wear bug spray, wear a hat, and be prepared to talk to turkeys to kindly ask them to clear off the hiking paths. Just the usual forest stuff.

I have learned that you don’t always have to see where a path leads to follow it. Most times I head into the forest I do so without taking a map. I step onto a trail and allow it to lead me wherever it’s going to lead me. I don’t know where the trail is headed, what obstacles might lie ahead on the trail, and still I follow it. Sometimes I end up going farther than I would like, but I’ve never felt lost in the forest. I’ve never felt that panic of “I don’t know where I am.” I can’t say the same for my day to day life. I have often felt the panic of “I don’t know where I am” or “I don’t want to go down this path.” Many times in life we want to see all the places the path we’re on is going or we want to direct the path instead of just trusting the path we’re one will lead us where we are supposed to go.

The forest has taught me that just like trees we can bend, but we don’t have to break. If you watch trees, they allow the wind to flow freely through them and to bend their branches at the wind’s will. How often in life do we stand resolute against the “winds” life sends our way determined to not let the wind move us? Often times not only does this cause the winds of life to move us, but it also causes us to break. I’ve learned to let the winds of life come and to flow with them instead of fighting against them.

Finally, the forest has become a friend of sorts. A place I go to find support, connection, and find myself. Yes, I am one of those people that speaks to the animals I see in the forest and sometimes even the trees. I firmly believe nature speaks if we are open to and willing to listen. She doesn’t speak the way we do, but she has a voice.

So, Into the woods I go..