Earth Day 2025- How Nature Heals Us in Midlife
Apr 22, 2025In honor of Earth Day, I am leaning into one of the most powerful and underrated wellness tools we have: nature. This isn’t just about going outside to get some fresh air. This is about healing. About deep, cellular restoration. About remembering who we are underneath all the noise, the pressure, the responsibilities. Midlife can feel like a whirlwind—but nature? Nature slows us down. Nature brings us back to center.
I want to start by taking you somewhere very special to me: the Boundary Waters of northern Minnesota. One of the most healing places in my life is the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. If you’ve been there, you know what I mean—it’s just so quiet. So calm. So breathtakingly beautiful. Out there, everything slows down. You hear the loons. You see the mist rising off the lake in the morning. If you’re very lucky, you hear a wolf pack howling at night. You’re surrounded by trees, water, and wildlife. No traffic. No phones. No endless to-do list. Just nature. Every time I go, I feel this calmness come over me. It’s a reminder that healing doesn’t always come from a doctor’s office or a prescription or a self-help book—it can come from a canoe ride, a sunrise, or just sitting on a rock and breathing. When I’m in the Boundary Waters, I just feel better, and it’s not because I’m doing anything extraordinary. I’m just fully present. Fully alive. Fully grounded.
And I think that’s the point.
Nature doesn’t ask us to fix ourselves. It doesn’t hand us a to-do list. It simply invites us to come back. To come home. There’s a reason we feel this way in nature—it’s biological. It’s primal. We’re designed to be connected to the earth, to cycles, to seasons, to light.
When we spend time in natural settings—whether it’s a national park or a bench under a tree—our cortisol levels drop. Our heart rate slows. Blood pressure stabilizes. The brain shifts from fight-or-flight into rest-and-restore. Even just looking at a natural landscape—through a window or a photo—has been shown to activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which is your body’s built-in calm-down switch.
Sunlight also boosts serotonin, a key neurotransmitter that regulates mood. And early morning light helps reset our circadian rhythms, which is especially important for women in midlife who struggle with sleep.
Add in grounding—literally walking barefoot on the earth—and there’s emerging evidence that the electrical charge from the ground can reduce inflammation and help with pain and energy levels. It sounds simple. But it’s incredibly powerful.
Nature Is Essential in Midlife, so let’s talk about why this connection is especially crucial.
This stage of life is full of shifts—hormonal, emotional, physical, even spiritual. It can feel like everything you once understood about your body or your identity is in flux. We’re often caretaking in every direction—kids, aging parents, work, relationships—and in that swirl, our own needs get buried. Nature reminds us to pause. To slow down. To step out of the frantic cycle and into something ancient, wise, and unhurried. There’s no competition in nature. No deadlines. No expectations to “get it together.” There’s just a rhythm. A flow. A knowing. And when we allow ourselves to align with that—even for a few minutes—we start to feel safe again. Seen. Supported. And sometimes, even inspired.
Let’s talk about some Practical Ways to Reconnect with Nature – and how we actually bring this into our daily lives, especially if we live in a city or we’re dealing with cold weather, mobility issues, or just…busy-ness?
Here are a few simple, doable ways to infuse nature into your wellness routine:
1. Take a slow walk and leave your phone behind. Even 10 minutes of being truly present with your surroundings can reset your nervous system.
2. Create a sit spot. Pick a place—a chair, a balcony, a patch of grass—and visit it regularly. Notice what changes. The light, the leaves, the birds. One of my favorite times of the day is the morning when the birds are singing and the rest of the world seems so quiet. Enjoying these types of small rituals can be deeply grounding.
3. Bring nature inside. Open a window. Add plants to your space. Use natural scents like lavender or cedar. Play nature sounds while you work or sleep.
4. Garden—on any scale. Even tending to one herb in a sunny window can offer the satisfaction of caring for something living.
5. Watch the sky. Clouds, stars, sunrise, or sunset—they connect you to something bigger.
6. Start a nature journal. Write down one thing you noticed today that was beautiful or grounding. This builds awareness and gratitude.
7. Practice grounding. Kick off your shoes and walk barefoot—on grass, dirt, sand, wherever you are. It’s incredibly regulating for your nervous system.
8. Use your senses. Smell pine. Feel cool water. Watch the way the wind moves through trees. Engaging your senses mindfully pulls you back into the moment—and into your body.
So often, we think healing has to come in the form of supplements, prescriptions, or expensive programs. And sometimes those things help. But sometimes? The thing we need most is already right outside our door.
This Earth Day, I hope you’ll give yourself permission to reconnect. Not just with nature, but with your own rhythm. Your own breath. Your own aliveness. You don’t have to have all the answers. You just have to show up—open-hearted, curious, and willing to listen. Because when we root down… we rise up.
Happy Earth Day!
