3 Opportunities to Experience Nature You Haven’t Thought Of (For City-Dwellers)
This one’s for all my city dwellers — the beautiful people in the concrete jungles of the globe. If you read about the benefits of experiencing nature all day, you might get jealous. “But, *insert author here*, how can I get in tune with nature from the middle of the city??? It’s not feasible !!!!”
I hear ya.
It ain’t easy. So we’ll break down a few opportunities you have to get yourself in touch with nature, right from your shoebox apartment (respectfully).
- Buy Plants for the Crib
One great way to get yourself in tune with Mother Earth is just to buy a cool plant to have around the apartment. There’s a lot of varieties that can grow indoors, some even with little sunlight. I’m no green thumb myself but if you buy a good snake plant you can basically stick it in a corner with no light, water it once a month and it’ll go.
This shot is from my old apartment in Baltimore. Almost no natural light to speak of. Yet these two plants grew nice and easy, only getting watered once a month and only getting (very) indirect light.
Before we move on, just read off some of these benefits of having house plants:
- Improves your mood
- Reduces fatigue
- Lowers stress & anxiety
- Improves office performance & focus
- Boosts healing & pain tolerance (this one made me roll my eyes a bit)
- Improves air quality
- Eases dry skin & respiratory ailments
If even 2/7 of these are correct you’re clearly in the green. No pun intended. Consult a local plant shop for instructions on how to take care of effectively.
2. Visit a City Park
Admittedly, you’ve probably thought of this one. But oftentimes, it seems people get caught in the weeds about what “is” and “isn’t” nature. I promise you’ll go out and have a fine time just walking around a city park, even the kind that’s mostly a playground for kids.
Here at The Regrowth Project, our motto is: if it has plants, it’s nature. Get out there, find a place with some local trees, and marvel at them. They don’t even necessarily have to be local trees in the sense that they’re native. Maybe your local park has some nice imported Japanese maples that give a park that reddish accent.
Or maybe your park in Japan has some imported American Chestnut trees, to give it that natural feel. It really doesn’t matter. The point is get outside and enjoy it. Hell, you might even want to do a little research on what kind of trees are around you. What if I just discovered you a hobby in plant classification? A little lame, but to each their own.
It’s possible you don’t even have a park like this, which is admittedly pretty nice. No real trails but a good view of the city and harbor on the other side, as well as a fair amount of green space.
But I’m sure you have something like this.
This is literally a rectangle of green space. Find your own ! Go there ! It’s calling your name. Even 15 minutes spent at a spot like this might just clear your head and set you up for a nice rest of your day.
3. Clean Litter
This one could be a little unorthodox for you. And I’ll take it a step further — you don’t even have to clean it from a park, or a field, or anywhere like that. You just have to clean it up. Even from the street, it’ll end up in a storm drain and then end up in a bay somewhere. That’s a fish’s habitat. That’s a place that could use your help.
Here’s the garbage cleaning playbook:
- Wear a glove, and bring a litter picker if you want
- Bring a shopping bag
- Insert litter into bag
- Repeat step 3
- Throw in trash can
If you pull it off effectively, it’ll look like this.
And just like that, you’ve made the world a better place. Again, you could argue that this has the least to do with nature of all the activities described.
But I’m telling you, just do it.
Watch your stress turn to calm relaxation. And just maybe, the excitement of having done a good thing. The world at large can use people giving back and contributing in small ways. Even if you’re not around nature, you have the ability to contribute to it thriving.
Nature is besieged from all sides today. Do your part, feel good, and enjoy it. If you love it, follow here, on IG at theregrowthproject, and subscribe on patreon.
