I was recently watching Earth on Netflix and it reminded me of how much I liked watching that type of stuff when I was younger. I actually wanted to be a wildlife photographer when I was younger (specifically birds), and now that I think about it I used to spend a fair bit of time outdoors. I remember looking at books about birds of prey and thinking it would be so cool to check them out in person and see and take photos of them in the wild. I eventually found music and spent more time diving into that, but I do wonder sometimes how things would have gone if I had pursued the wildlife stuff instead.
It’s really interesting to watch nature shows like the programming from The Discovery Channel. I get the same feeling I would get as a kid when I watched similar shows. It’s a distinct, nostalgic feeling; like ‘this is really cool! I didn’t know that!’, but in a completely causal, nonthreatening way. That was probably confusing; I’ll try again. It’s like when you’re a kid and you find out something cool about nature, it’s just something cool to know about your environment and the world that we all share. Uncovering rollie-pollies and seeing fireflies and learning about polar bears and platypus’ was fun and cool because we got to see first-hand how varied and special nature is. It never really felt like a means to an end. Math was boring, but necessary, as was social studies, grammar, etc. Don’t get me wrong; that stuff can be fun, too. But seeing and learning about all of the plants and animals in the world just piqued my curiosity in a different way. Still does.
[It]… was fun and cool because we got to see first-hand how varied and special nature is.
It’s even more fulfilling to watch kids get excited over nature. Children love learning about nature and animals and the beautiful world that we all get to share. It’s easy for children to gravitate towards one animal or another, and they can see very clearly that even though they’re all different, they’re also all equally important. Learning from nature is almost intuitive; for a child, finding out more about nature is as fun and entertaining as it is informative.
And of course, there’s how peaceful and stress-relieving being in nature can be. We have all heard about how helpful it can be to pet an animal when you’re stressed. Or how taking a walk through a park on a nice day is a pleasure that we should all indulge in from time to time. For most of us from the time we are kids until we leave this place being in nature can take our minds away from everything else that may be going on in our lives and allow us to be fully present, even for just a few moments. In a quiet, reassuring way, nature can remind us that there’s amazing things all around us and that we are truly part of something special. In any case, I probably need to go for a walk now.