Spring Blog 2025: Spring has sprung!

We are well into Spring, which I love. After days or gray, cold weather, the world starts to open up. Birds start singing again, plants unravel tapestries of color, and tiny chorus frogs sing into the rain.

Growing up, I was always fascinated with the outdoors. Once school was out, my family traveled to Minnesota, with its clear, blue lakes full of fish to catch and loons, beaver, eagles and otter to watch. Over Christmas, it was Florida, with lizards to catch, gators and other exotic creatures to watch. My heroes on TV were Marlin Perkins (Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom), Jacques Cousteau, and later Steve Irwin, Marty Stouffer and others. The worlds they explored and taught me were every bit as fascinating as anything I could find in any science fiction novel. The outdoors became my teacher, my playground, and my refuge.

With May being Mental Health Awareness, I wanted to share some personal experiences with the outdoors that help ground me and provide comfort. As long as I can remember, my father pointed out things in the environment. By the time I headed to school, I could name dozens of insects, animals, trees, plants and birds.

One day in Kindergarten, I was lying on my green plastic mat with all the other kids, wide-awake, the compulsory “nap time” completely ineffective on my 5yo energy level. I saw a black spider slowly descending on its silken thread. I carefully watched as its glistening body, came nearer, until it rotated slowly and I saw the telltale red hourglass on its abdomen.

“Black Widow Black Widow”, I yelled as I jumped up from my mat, pointing at the spider hanging from its abdomen. The teacher waded through the group of alerted children and patiently approached me as I pointed to the large spider descending in front of a chalkboard. She calmly grabbed a glass jar with a top and trapped the spider.

“I’m sure this isn’t a black widow”, she declared, “but I will ask our high school science teacher to look at it”.

It was a black widow. I knew it was, even at age 5. The thing I remember about that experience is, I was certain of knowledge that my adult teacher did not possess. That experience gave me confidence and the drive to constantly learn new things.

Whether you have a PhD in marine biology, or just like to piddle around in your garden, multiple studies have shown that spending time in nature reduces stress by helping to regulate the sympathetic nervous system. Additionally, research shows that exposure to nature can be an effective coping tool for those with chronic mental illness. It can be used to treat everything from PTSD, depression, and ADHD to feelings such as loneliness, aggression, and irritability. Furthermore, time in nature can improve cognition which leads to benefits such as better sleep, creativity, attention, and memory retention.

The benefits I personally experience from spending time in nature include enhanced mood, greater peace, excitement, confidence, grounding, and a sense of freedom. It also gives me time to reflect and process things. My days can be pretty hectic, so, when I’m able to surround myself with the peaceful sounds of birds chirping and the wind blowing through the leaves on the trees, my mind can tackle ideas and tasks which require focus.

I grew up in a very small, rural central Illinois village. Thus, I was constantly surrounded by nature. Whether that was simply the gardens and trees in my own backyard, the local line of trees or the seasonal crops that surrounded our town. As a kid, I was able to explore the world and learn from it. One day it might mean feeding grasshoppers to the huge garden spiders living in the cornfields or observing squirrels stretching out on their bellies on the branches of a huge pin-oak tree to regulate their body temperature. In these experiences, I could teach myself at my own rate, tailoring my education in ways that were lacking in a traditional school setting.

With populations increasingly migrating towards more urban areas, finding a place to explore nature can be a challenge. A person may have to travel a bit to walk in a park, sit by a creek or hike a nature path. A lone tree under which to sit can be a peaceful retreat. A group of indoor plants, an aquarium, or a patio garden can be a substitute. People pull pieces of nature into their everyday life using technology. Watching nature shows, having a sleep machine with sounds of the ocean, or a painting/mural in a room can evoke a feeling of the natural world. While not every naturalistic input will be as effective as a genuine encounter in nature, identifying the characteristics of what helps improve your mental health can be helpful.

As I’ve mentioned in past blogs, a person has to intentionally work to improve their mental health. With regards to nature experiences, this means experiencing various situations and curating those which produce positive results. Fishing may be boring to one person. Another may like using a bird-watching app to capture local bird calls. Working on a pollinator garden, surrounded by buzzing bees and insects, could be blissful to one, and scary to another.

Just like any self-care activity, you must plan time for encountering the outdoors. Unlike some other interventions, it can be interrupted by things such as weather, seasons, or environmental factors. If you require travel to get to your special place, you also have to factor that as well. I suggest starting off with a single activity that is readily accessible. Maybe you simply walk down to the park at the end of your street and sit under a tree for 15 minutes. It’s best to keep a simple journal to record how you are feeling before and after your experience. A simple rating or a two-word description can suffice. Maybe you rate your mood as a 3/10 before sitting under your tree and describe yourself as “stressed” and “overwhelmed”. However, after 15 minutes, you have boosted yourself to a 6/10 and can consider yourself “resolved” and “hopeful”.

Nothing works for everyone. No two users experience the world in exactly the same way. As I’ve mentioned, what is relaxing for one may not be the same for the next person. The good thing is that nature has infinite possibilities and combinations. If your first location doesn’t ease your mind, try another location or the same location at a different time. Incorporate simple relaxation techniques such as breathing and meditation into your experiences. If you let it, nature will eventually show you the way to a healthier, happier you.

Chas Swearingen is a community liaison for Lincoln Prairie Behavioral Health Center. He obtained his Master’s in Clinical Psychology from the University of Illinois- Springfield and has worked exclusively in the mental health field for the last 11 years. He’s probably either in front of a screen or outside breathing the fresh air. He lives in Carlinville, IL with his wife, their sons, a big brown dog and a cat which adopted them.