Find the Bright Side

As a young girl and teenager, I considered myself a staunch pessimist, as if it were a source of pride. Optimists were foolish, cheesy people who smiled too much. Annoying. But over the years I have come to regard my seemingly-instinctual tendency toward negativity as an undesirable mental state. Not only are overly negative people unpleasant to be around, perpetually focusing on the glass half-empty has some adverse affects for the pessimist: reduced career success, a hampered immune system, and potentially leads to an early death. So maybe it’s worth trying to be a little less negative! With the ever-looming shadow of the coronavirus pandemic, it seems much harder now to maintain a positive outlook. When I get fed up or start feeling overwhelmed and feel that cloud of negativity settling in, no matter the stressor, nature is my magic pick-me-up pill. As I walk, the ceaseless internal chatter quiets and my mind empties automatically, making room for enjoying the present moment. I went out for a hike at lunch the other day when I felt the sun and blue skies call my name. Lunch-break hikes have been medicine for a stress-filled fall with work and school obligations and general background uncertainty about the state of the world. To gently remind myself to keep up my stress-busting habit as the weather turns colder, I started the Keystone Trails Association 100 Mile Trail Challenge. The goal is to hike 100+ miles between September 1, 2020 and August 31, 2021 and secure $1/mile in sponsorships to support the maintenance and preservation of Pennsylvania hiking trails. I started September 12 and have so far hiked 82 miles as of December 3. But recently I’ve been experiencing calf, foot, and lower leg pain from wearing beat up shoes and maybe being a touch overzealous given how I’ve been a couch potato since the pandemic started. So I had to take it easy and limited myself to walking an out-and-back trail a half-mile in each direction. It was a chilly day, but the sunlight warmed me through the trees as I focused my attention on the rocks, roots, and leaves in the path. I breathed in crisp, fresh air. I’ve been pushing myself with the hike challenge to go faster, farther, and get in better shape, and have been caught up chasing the miles instead of enjoying the journey. Forced to drop the urge to achieve, I walked slowly and gingerly over the landscape. I couldn’t get very deep into the woods with only a half-mile walk, but slowing down allowed me to notice things I would otherwise have hiked by: Defoliated canes of wineberry bushes glowed a vibrant pink in the sunlight. I resisted my urge to be negative – these plants are highly invasive – and appreciate the pop of color branches brought to the dull brown background.  Another positive: wineberries are delicious, and I plan to harvest them next summer and try making wineberry jam, reducing the spread of invasive plant seeds AND filling my belly with yummy homemade goodness. Immediately adjacent to the first wineberry cane, I noticed another insidious invasive, the Japanese Barberry. I’ve been trying to rid a nearby nature preserve of this thorny, unpleasant invader.  But the bright red berries shined on the pale woody branches, like lights on a Christmas tree, and I couldn’t help but smile.   A maroon set of leaves stuck out to me, with tiny leaf hairs illuminated. Farther along, the delicate new growth on a multiflora rose, outlined in vivid purple, contrasted with the green leaf interior.   Little puffballs glimmered in the sun amid a luminous sea of grasses. According to my plant ID app Picture This, these may be New England Aster and Goldenrod. I got back to the car, refreshed by mindful attention to the details around me; all stress evaporated. Mother Earth always provides something to make me smile, even things I might not normally notice or take for granted, like the bright sunshine. I was reminded of the Monty Python classic, “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.” Whistle with me now…