I had in mind a different title for this article, but I've changed my mind because it didn't feel right. Forest fashion week:winter edition sounds quite shallow because trees never put on a show and even if they would, they would not need it. They are beautiful during all seasons, not only when they change to winter clothing.
I witnessed a heavy snow in the forest. My first time catching this early in the morning. It surprises me what effect nature can have on my mood. I have raised my eyebrows when I woke up and looked through the window: fat snowflakes falling gently. I had other plans which included yet another tiresome weekend filled with renovations and wall painting. I have been so occupied with moving out, taking care of the new place with furniture and other stuff ( I am proud for having put tile in my bathroom and kitchen on my own...it was a pain and I felt utterly proud and...exhausted) and also renovating the back room of my salon ( major mold issues). To say that I feel drained or exhausted is an understatement. But I have a strong motivation to pursue my goal and try to overcome the amount of fatigue I am feeling. This is why I had the least emotional reaction to the scammer who stole my identity: I am too busy and overwhelmed with the life I have now. But when I saw snow...and winter knocking on my window...I have said: this is it. Screw the mundane life with all of these never ending tasks that appear because we want to make a better life out of every opportunity. Screw working so damn much that I no longer have time to NOT think. So I am going straight into the forest and finish the chores later. In the last couple of weeks it has happened the other way around. The forest had to wait for me to get my stuff together. Oh yes of course , what human will not complicate their life? Come one, you can do it! I say it with a smirk...
The walk felt incredible. The way the forest looks while snowing is magical. I forgot my water and I took freshly fallen snow from the branches and tasted it. Crunchy. Fresh. Liberating. I remember last time eating snow when I was a kid. I realize when I go deeper in this magical land that everything which seemed so big and important is actually a pebble in an ocean. Nothing. I often have run- away -thoughts like retreating completely in the woods, building a log cabin where I could receive guests for a living and live my life far away from civilization. Nature is so simple at its core. It just is. I work constantly when I go in the woods to liberate my mind from thoughts. It is a tough exercise. Our mind can be a hungry beast, we always have to churn incessant thoughts into it to continue thinking.
When I look at the hills and hear the silence , something utters to my ear: I want to be here. Maybe this is my hermit side, which longs for solitude and simplicity. I think of how we are all just passengers on the train of life and how we have no clue when it is going to end, but somehow we are ignorant to believe it is going to last forever. If we would realize how fragile life is, how sudden you can lose a loved one, how unexpected an illness can be, then we would reconsider all of these " important" chores we put on our shoulders. We would fight against our ego for real and truly allow ourselves to love and be loved. While walking in these lonely woods I think of how the cycle of life is one of the most complex things I have tried to grasp with my imagination. Isn't it a miracle the very fact that I can see? That I can watch snow falling and look at the trees. Do we even appreciate the small things when we are consumed by city life?
I ponder. Somewhere far away a CEO is building a company from the ground up, having millions of employees, hoping to leave a legacy. Will anybody care 300 years from now? If that person will die of a heart attack or fail to have a love life, would they turn in their graves wishing they would have made a different choice? Look at the Colonel. His finger licking good legacy goes on. True. But the forest doesn't care. Nobody knows what was in every hero's heart. If they died happy doing what they did. If they longed for something more than for their success. I smile thinking how we will all return in the womb of Mother Earth like nothing has happened. Is it all about the journey of our soul? Are we in fact just like the forest who changes clothes during seasons while its core remains the same? I ponder again. I think of how we embellish our lives with more than 4 pairs of clothing. How we drown ourselves in entertainment or social media to forget about what we don't do because we are afraid. I have a thought: if someone would be truly happy, would they even use the Internet? Would they even want an online presence?...I think of how the majority of those who came to know bliss were those who retreated in nature, those who saw the futility of focusing more on the destination than on the journey.
Every time I go back in town from the forest I have a burdening feeling: that I don't belong here. I find the noise and the agitation of people mostly futile. Everybody is rushing. People talk loud in the streets consumed by whatever petty things happened to them. Oh my husband doesn't love me, I need a better job, I have so much to do, If only my enemies would die, Why is he happy, I am too old to get a divorce, When will Covid end. Sadly many worries are about the next day: will I have food to eat?, will I be able to pay my mortgage or my rent?, how can I resist mentally in a job which consumes me? I don't blame the people, I think the system of what we call society is flawed. It is not designed for the happiness of humans, it is designed for slavery. Under the shackles of bare necessities which have to be met, the slaves no longer have time to think about their own soul which is dying while they run for money thinking that this is what is needed during their short existence on Earth. A human can die tomorrow and not having lived for real one day in their lives. This is sad. People can become so consumed that a statement like I am too busy and overwhelmed with the life I have now can sound normal. It is not. I observe myself and see how I can also have these moments. When I snap. But something happens to me when I get out of the city and retreat for a couple of hours in the forest. It is like coming back to a truer me.
I don't know when I will die. Neither do you. But what we imagine that matters now might not mean a thing when we will be close to the edge. I haven't heard anyone longing for more money, possessions or fame when they were nearly dying. But I am sure they all wanted more experiences than they had and almost all of them regretted the things they did NOT do. This might make you think if it touches your soul: what fear prevents you from doing what you really feel like doing? In this tiring daily race , what are you forgetting? The winter may cover you for a little while as your soul remains your core, screaming in silence for you to hear.
I don't think I've ever seen a nicer winter. And you did a really good job of writing your name in the snow. For some reason when I do it, it just turns yellow.
Thank you🤗 It really felt wonderful to be there while snow was falling. I wish they would build tree houses , I would totally stay in one.
Hahaha. Never eat the yellow snow everybody told us while we were kids. Now I know why🤣🤣
Yeah. Can't squeeze lemonade out of that stuff.
I've been trying to get away but the weather has me locked in place. Few days ago it was -50. Insanely cold. The winter here lately is more like the arctic.
I really like the first photo with the mirror. I stared at that one for awhile.
-50? That is low...where in the heart of Siberia do you live lol?
I wish I would have stayed more in the forest. I like how I feel when I am there.
You have been busy! You certainly deserve a morning and/or afternoon in the forest. It's good for the soul! Sometimes getting to commune with nature is exactly what one needs.
Oh yes! Maybe "I have made myself busy" would be a proper statement lol. In life there will always be one thing, and then another thing. Has it happened to you to feel at one moment like this: I will finally have peace after all of this. And then bam, another chore to do appears. Perhaps we create it ourselves too. Life can be very simple if you look at it from a minimalistic point of view. People who live deep in the mountains seem more peaceful, but they also have worries of their own: chopping wood, making fire, taking care of their animals. I wonder if their worries make them more blissful then ours.
The thing with humans is that we can't stagnate. We constantly need challenges and change. We create it. Could we sit still and choose to do nothing? Sure...but until when? I often go into a philosophical state when I go in the woods and my thoughts about the world change.
I have felt the consequences of exhaustion. When I saw the amount of work necessary to do again and again I almost felt like giving up. But when I go in nature I recharge. This is how I have build my resilience. In moments when I thought I can't go on and still, I do.
Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great week ahead🤗
Hey Mary, like you I feel like I'm lost in this very place, I can't runaway or recede to the forest it nature right now, maybe sometime in the future. I've had thoughts like this a lot of times before. Right now I'm in my finals in the university and looking back I've asked myself if it was worth it, wasting away my years in search of knowledge, in search of a path that would never find me peace. I look at the years of my life wasted, toiling, killing myself mentally and being less of myself. It isn't worth it, I don't know if I could have lived a better life if I had followed the path that I actually really loved, it would have been hard for me, I might have even gone through a lot of challenges because with the way the world works getting what you want takes a lot more. I don't know if I can ever really find myself, find through happiness, find my own snow forest fairyland, im still hopeful.
We're too carried away trying to make a life for ourselves,trying to make ends meet,that we truely forget to appreciate the little thing of life. We're consumed by so many unnecessary things, that we forget to really enjoy this short life we have to live.
I'm glad you actually followed the path to the forest. I wish I could experience the feeling of tasting snow, Im sure it tasted really chill. You really should be one with nature more often, I'm 💯 sure you'll find yourself.
Your pictures are amazing my dear, nature sure doesn't need to change clothes because it is indeed so besides.
Thanks for sharing such a wonderful experience with us. God bless you ❤️✅
Hello! Oh the final years in the University. I can remember how it feels like and I understand you. I had a major breakdown after I graduaded from Journalism when I had a harsh reality check: nobody wanted journalists that much, it wasn't such a sought after joh that we were thought to believe. A severe depression followed after. It was tough. Looking back now I also ponder about the whole University-preparing-you-for-a-job idea. I feel differently now. My education continued after University, I have chosen to continue to read. As a matter of fact I feel we can have more time for education when we are not in a system. There were many classes which, I felt, brought no value for me other than dead time. It was a lot of clogged up information during University and some of the teachers did not want to accept their flaws. They continued to fed us the same old principles by spoon and by force. Grades were supposed to show how good we ate that information. With the mind I have now , I find it absurd. In other countries students are left not only with a depression but with major student loans. We pay for things with years from our lives...
You are probably studying hard and really put your heart into it. This is why you are drained. Students who fail to care are happier. Maybe wiser than we think. Who knows ...
I loved to eat snow lol. It felt nice. Like I somehow became a child again. I feel a deep connection with nature and when I am concerned with mundane life and forget about my nature time I get thrown off balance. This was a necessary walk for me and my mood. I even wondered why I put such a pressure on myself to finish all chores by such high standards. I will chill off, there is no point in exhausting myself.
Thanks a lot for stopping by and have a lovely week, God bless you too🤗
You actually get it @creativemary . Its all like a waste of time sometimes and even after finishing there's no guarantee of getting a job like you said. Then you start to feel worse, you're wondering what you'll do with your life, all those years wasted. Then you begin to discover yourself, like you said the real learning begins. I can't wait to start that journey. I am tired of the old things they fill our brain with, old theories, unrelated topics, more and more cumbersome activities and die hard complex exams, it really drains me up. Sometimes I wish I could just stop and start finding myself but then I just have to finish.
Wow, loans?, You're already in debt before you even start earning..that's really depressing.
Lol, yeah, they're happier and wiser I guess. But I do know when to take a break and have fun if it becomes too much. Hive helps me a lot too. Takes my mind away from my problems.
Yes! You deserve to be a child again, we can't always be grown up, we'll become way too old too fast. There's no snow over so I havn't really experienced how it feels to eat snow or hold it but I know one day I'll have that experience. Glad you took the work and cleared your head, it's beautiful, nature Is amazing and you can't help falling in love with it every time. Lol, no more pressure, you'll still get the work done in due time.
Thanks for the wonderful reply.
Sorry it took time to reply.. I've been away for a while because I wasn't feeling too well....I'm back now..better than ever! 🥺❤️
Education continues after the school is done. In fact, I feel I have more time now to study than when I was in University. I pick my own books and nobody pressures me into learning something I don't like.
I am glad that you feel better and more energized! 🤗
The title reminded me of the way painters name their paintings. The writing style is in harmony with the peace I see in the pictures. I enjoyed reading and watching.
Hello! This is very nice of you to say, considering that I am also a painter. I felt a lot of peace in that moment, I think it has been captured in the photos and I am glad that it did. Thank you a lot for stopping by🤗
Wow. Spectacular Photography. Upvoted via the New and Improved @offgridlife Curation Project on Waivio.com … see you over there too. https://waivio.com #waivio
Thanks so much🤗
Stay motivated and strong. No matter how big the problem we face, there must be wisdom behind it all. Often that problem comes with something better. We just need to expand our hearts, so that the problems we face don't become bigger than ourselves. Nice to see you back here.
Hi! Thank you for the encouragement and uplifting words🤗 You are right, problems should not be bigger than ourselves. I think this is about our own perspective. And going into nature can simplify it for us and bring us back to the essentials. It was needed in my case.
When I look back I agree that I can see the wisdom behind every hurdle. It does require more self control and contemplation in order to see this right away, when issues arise.
Have a beautiful week and thanks for stopping by🤗
I love it when the snow clings to the trees like that. It makes everything look so fluffy and pretty.
The quiet of the forest is a good place to go to get away from the craziness of the city and to be mindful and reflect on oneself. It's especially quiet after a snowfall as well.
Yes! It is so fluffy and light and the paradox is that despite the lightness of the snowflakes the trees seem burdened under snow's weight.
It is silent when it snows. You can barely hear the sound of snowflakes hitting the ground. I love it when it's like this. It has a soothing effect for my spirit.
Don't you have moments when you wish you would live in a forest?
Yeah I definitely have moments when I want to live in a forest or at a minimum, a wooded area with a larger forest near by
I want my own forest one day🥰
🤔 If you start planting one today you could have one by the time your retire
😜
Yes, this is one way to do it. Or another option would be to buy my own.
Buying a property with a forest would definitely be easier
Wow that looks magical. Excellent composition on the shots too!
Thank you so much🤗