Sea, Sand, Scenery: How Nature Has Helped My Quarantine
Throughout quarantine I have, to put it plainly, felt really cooped up. I have felt unproductive and unmotivated. I feel like I traveled back to high school, and I don’t like it one bit.
Coming home from school means that things have changed. Friendships have shifted, family members have moved away, old taco shops have closed, new ones have opened, and my sister even took some furniture from my childhood bedroom. However, the one thing that has never changed about home is the landscape.
I’m from San Diego, California, a place known for having some of the best beaches in the world, so there’s never a sore sight. We’re in the most southern part of the state, snug against Tijuana and the Pacific Ocean. San Diego boasts beautiful beaches hidden below steep cliffs and an amazing desert landscape that is even more striking against the deep blue ocean. Our wildlife is thriving with baby seals born on the beaches, leopard sharks swimming in the cove, and coyotes in our canyons. It’s a place I’m beyond lucky to call home, and this nature is my saving grace now that I’m back home.
About two weeks into quarantine, my dad asked me to go on a hike for the 3 millionth time, and being completely devoid of other options, I finally decided to say yes. Not to sound like I’m preaching straight out of a meditation guide, but the fresh air, sun on my skin, and sound of the waves crashing on the shore immediately rejuvenated me. We walked from our house down to the beach surrounded by the smells of the desert ocean landscape: sage shrubs, eucalyptus trees, and salt in the water. Something in my serotonin activity must have changed, because on that hike, I felt truly happy for the first time in two weeks.
This isn’t uncommon. In fact, a study led by Gregory Bratman at Stanford University found that spending time outdoors can be clinically beneficial for mental health. The study tested the effects of nature on mental health by splitting participants into two groups: one where participants walked in nature for 90 minutes and one where participants walked on a sidewalk next to car traffic for 90 minutes. Researchers found that frontal lobe activity dramatically changed in the participants that walked in nature. The nature group was also less likely to focus on negative thoughts than the traffic group.
I don’t know if my frontal lobe activity has changed, but I do know that since that hike, I have made a consistent effort to spend more time in nature. I have been surfing, hiking, swimming, or just laying out in the sun every day and appreciating this Earth. I can already feel the difference in my mental health. I sleep better, I feel more physically healthy, and I have less time to focus on my negative thoughts. There’s something about nature – salt on my face, sand in my hair, sun on my back – that makes daily life problems seem smaller. While life continues to change dramatically, nature —for the most part— stays consistently beautiful.
When surfing, I feel a change in my mood. The second I run into the water and the board hits the waves, my mind is set free. Paddling out is not always fun, as usually I end up with some saltwater in my lungs, but the race between me and the incoming waves is always exhilarating. Once I’m out past the break, I sit up on my board and just take in the sight of a flat ocean in front of me. Little bumps that will soon be crashing waves float towards me and I judge them, deciding whether or not I should flip and paddle. It’s quiet out there and I love to take a moment to notice the little things: the sun hitting my face, the water lapping up onto my board, and even the wax clinging to my tight, turquoise wetsuit. It’s even more of sight at sunset when the sky is painted with a mix of pinks and purples. When I see a wave I like, I turn and paddle hoping my twig arms can pull enough weight to get me into the wave. If I catch it, I have about 10 seconds to pop up and ride the wave out. To be entirely honest, most of the time I get crushed by the wave, fall off my board, or don’t catch the wave in the first place, but it doesn't matter. Being out there is most of the fun.
After the surf session I’ll get in bed with a sunburned face, chapped lips, and sore arms and fall asleep immediately. It’s medicinal.
I’m incredibly lucky to be surrounded by the San Diego landscape and I took it for granted. It took a quarantine to make me realize that I had one of the best medicines in the world sitting in my backyard. Nature has gotten me through this tough time. It’s a constant in my life and it is blossoming more than ever right now. I encourage you to love the landscape you’re stuck in and take some to hang out with nature. Hopefully it helps you as much as it’s helped me.