Practicing in Nature
I saw eyeballs reflecting back at me in the dark, but I didn’t run away…
Inside Girl
I did not grow up as a child who spent a lot of time in nature. Even though I grew up in Alabama, my mom was not a fan of dirt, so we spent a lot of our time inside. Every night before bed, she made us take a shower so we wouldn’t dirty the linens. Even now I feel strange if my feet are dirty at night, and I have to wash my feet before I can get into bed.
We live in a suburb of Atlanta, not exactly the urban jungle, but we still have all the noise and bustle of a major metropolitan area around us. It’s hard to escape highway noise, airplane noise, sirens, and trains when you live in our part of the world.
A Walk in the Woods
So it was a nice change when my family and I got to spend our spring break in a house in the North Georgia mountains right next to a river. It was lovely to lay in bed and listen to the sounds of the river at night, and go for walks by day to look at all the wildlife around us. We saw deer, and we had heard there were bears, but thankfully didn’t see any of THOSE. (A little bit of nature at a time is fine but I don’t need any apex predators, thanks.)
One night I had a great idea. “Let’s get flashlights and go for a walk outside! What might we see?” We told the older kids, “We’re going for a walk in the scary woods with flashlights! We’re going to look for bears!” The kids of course were nonplussed. I did find two bullfrogs in a pond, which was very exciting for an “inside girl.”
At one point, I looked into the woods and saw eyes reflecting back at me. (My #floridaman husband taught me how to identify gator eyes in the water at night a while back). That was a little unnerving until our eyes adjusted, and we could see that it was just a family of deer, sleeping in a field, staring back at us, (probably wondering why were waking them up.) Apologies to the deer, but it was magical.
Noisy Neighbors of All Kinds
Being in nature, when it’s not something you’re used to, comes as a practice, just like running or or learning a new language. It takes time, it takes effort, and you really have to commit yourself to doing it regularly. I have realized that it’s ok to be a little uncomfortable taking a walk outside and experiencing the weather firsthand. I recognize that I might need to wear more layers, or fewer layers, depending on the temperature. But the longer I do it, the more I realize the rewards and the benefits of it. I have been asking myself to spend more time in nature, noticing the life around me, and being curious about it.
Yesterday I was working in my office and heard a strange noise outside. Ordinarily I would have ignored it and rushed away to another meeting or another work assignment. But after spending my week in the mountains, I decided to open the curtain to see where the noise was coming from. A squirrel was sitting on a branch of a tree, yelling angrily up at another branch. On the higher branch, a family of newly-hatched baby birds were busily screeching away at their parents for food. For all the world, it looked like an angry neighbor trying to shush his noisy upstairs tenants. “Hey! Quit the racket up there!”
That brought me so much joy. Taking the time with my family not only let me reconnect with them and myself, but also with nature. I have ignored nature for a long time (see first paragraph). But there is so much to be learned from the gifts of the earth, to be able to breathe deeply and take some time to be present.
As long as there aren’t bears.
Dr. Braden’s Recommendations:
I’ve been thinking about medical gatekeeping, which is a dirty word in my field. As a researcher, though, I love reading new articles. That’s actually part of my job with Team Health; as the clinical educator, I keep my colleagues up to date on new developments in medicine. Medical knowledge is constantly updating, at the rate of something like by 50% every ten years. To counteract that, I try to keep people updated through my TikTok or Instagram at (#)DoctorBraden. I post content daily about developments in labor, postpartum, and breastfeeding. Please check it out!
Additionally, I have a great recommendation for a new book by my colleague Dr. Jennifer Lincoln, The Birth Book: An OBGYN’s Guide to Demystifying Labor and Delivery. Dr. Lincoln is a hospitalist like myself and is very involved in the Society of OB/GYN Hospitalists. She is also an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) like me, so she understands the postpartum period well. This book is well written, very funny, and includes a diverse variety of perspectives about labor and delivery, which can be a rarity. It’s a great resource for other OBGYNs, pregnant people, nursing mothers, and anyone interested in the field. I highly recommend it, go check it out! The Birth Book by Dr. Jennifer Lincoln
