I am originally from Georgetown, Kentucky. My home town is quite small, and there isn’t much to do there except eat and shop. The restaurants are mostly fast food or extremely unhealthy chain restaurants. Unfortunately, this doesn’t produce a very environmental sustainable habit, however, that is not what I will be focusing on in this blog post. In this blog post, I will be focusing on my relationship with nature and how it has recently, within the last few years, progressed. While living in Kentucky, there really weren’t any natural parks or areas that weren’t over 3 hours away for me to go to and enjoy. Summers there are extremely hot with no wind whatsoever, spring is full of rain, winter is misty and 20 degrees, and fall, the best season in my opinion, is 50 degrees and blue skies. So as you can see, I was also not a fan of the weather there either, unless it was Fall. This prevented me from doing a lot of stuff outside. My relationship with nature was almost nonexistent as the only time I wanted to go outside to do anything was during the fall, and even then, it wasn’t completely away from technology.

My attitude and relationship with nature has changed drastically since moving to Charleston, South Carolina, for college. There are constantly events going on here, festivals, farmers markets, concerts, etc. Constantly having something to do, somewhere to go, was what immediately made me fall in love with Charleston. Unlike my home town, most of these events that I go to, are actually outside. I’m not really sure if it’s the weather here that has brought this change, but I am constantly wanting to do some physical activity outside like jogging, biking, or walking my dog to the battery. My connection with nature has seriously improved/gotten stronger. I spend as much time as possible outside.

While I do spend more time in nature now, I usually am still connected to my phone because I like to listen to music while doing these activities. So I decided to go to the beach, and leave my phone in the car the whole time. I had no access to any technology. It was honestly one of the most peaceful moments I have had in a while. I walked down the beach with my dog and then eventually laid out a towel and sat.  I listened to the waves and just relaxed. It was soothing. I felt refreshed when I left. I now am going to leave my phone in the car every time I go to the beach because I felt more in touch with my surroundings. Having this kind of encounter with nature should be a more regular thing for everybody. It is extremely important for each person to have a strong connection with nature. Not only will it cause a person to develop healthier habits by easing stress due to lack of access to technology, but it also has some effects people don’t necessarily think of immediately. It will cause one to care more about our environment, to take care of it, and to encourage others to do so. This relationship improves all aspects of you life, mental health, physical health (getting more Vitamin D from sun, being more active), etc. It also impoves