7 things I learnt from #30DaysWild: #StayWild

#30DaysWild was a challenge from The Wildlife Trusts to find a small (or large) part of every day in June to bring a little bit of nature into your life.

We had a great time visiting places such as Whisby Natural World Centre, spotting unusual sights, kicking through piles of leaves, splashing through puddles, sharing stories, exploring parks, playing in the garden, visiting Uncle Henry’s on Open Farm Sunday, listening to bird song, feeling the grass between our toes and lots more.

We learnt a lot (including that we have a lot more to learn!) and are determined to #staywild along with the wonderful community of fellow #30DayWilders we connected with during the challenge.   Here are just seven points I want to remember:

1. My children have waterproofs and wellies but I definitely need some too!
2. Hay fever sucks.  And it especially sucks when you’re a mini person.
3. Once I’ve invested in some waterproofs, a new camera phone might be next on the list.  Many other wilders took some very impressive close up shots of mini creatures with just their camera phones.  Samsungs seemed to be the most lauded but I think there’s further research to be done.
4. Trying to plan extra specific activities and blog everyday when you have two mini ones and several jobs is difficult.
5. “Life is what happens to you when you’re busy making other plans”.  If we planned it, it rained on it, we never made it to the seaside or went camping in June as I’d hoped, the colour charts I picked up inspired by other wilders’ activities didn’t make it out of the car for another week, the strawberry fields were all picked out by the time we got there and the hoop cereals bought to be made into bird feeders were actually destined to be dumped over the kitchen floor by a briefly unsupervised one-year-old…
6. Modern life really does seem to disconnect us from nature.  Despite spending a lot of the month quite wet, I still feel lucky to walk most places rather than sit in a vehicle transporting me from one building to another every day.  But even with that in mind, when preparing for #30DaysWild my first ports of call were a visit to the bookshop, the library and several Google searches – perhaps I should have just started by stepping outside?
7. And connecting with nature really does have mental and physical health benefits.  We use natural imagery decoratively inside our buildings or on the exteriors of eyesore industrial factories but making at least 10 minutes a day to directly experience it could provide us with a welcome breath of fresh air and a calming change of pace as well as opening our eyes to the world around us and its greater importance.

Here’s to staying wild and being #365dayswild!