It’s Day 16 of Blogtober (so we’re now over halfway through) and today’s suggested prompt is: How Nature Slows Down and So Should We: Compare the slowing pace of nature with the benefits of embracing slowness in our lives. I touched upon this in one of my early Blogtober 2024 posts, Embracing the Shorter Days.
When we have less hours of sun, nature slows down and I really think us humans should too. I often say (especially during the cold mornings) that I wish I could hibernate like a hedgehog!. But, as I mentioned before it’s very hard when you have school/uni aged children and/or a nine to five job. Because of school, family commitments, work and clubs, I’ve felt I’ve had to carry on at full speed. Now, I’m feeling really run down and full of a cold. My body is telling me to slow down. During this busy time of life, which won’t last, I don’t have any solutions. I know I should say no to more things, but I already say no to what I can and some things are vital and others I admit I don’t want to say no to, so I’m the maker of my busy life and therefore should accept it. I also hold on to guilt about the things I don’t do, and I need to let go of that as it takes up valuable space. I am enough. I do enough. I’ll miss it when these busy years are over!
However, I do realise the importance of slowing down, it’s important to take care of ourselves and each other and not get burned out.Here are some poems about the slowing down of nature during Autumn and a reminder that even during busy times it’s important to take time to stop and stand still now and then:
Lost
Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers, I have made this place around you. If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. you must let it find you.
by David Wagoner (1999)
Leaves
by Elsie N. Brady
How silently they tumble down
And come to rest upon the ground
To lay a carpet, rich and rare,
Beneath the trees without a care,
Content to sleep, their work well done,
Colors gleaming in the sun.
At other times, they wildly fly
Until they nearly reach the sky.
Twisting, turning through the air
Till all the trees stand stark and bare.
Exhausted, drop to earth below
To wait, like children, for the snow.
Nothing Gold Can Stay
Robert Frost, 1874 –1963
Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
Surviving Autumn Days, or SAD
At first glance, there is only grey up ahead: a denseness, a drizzle, an overcast sky. A damp chill in the air cooling you from your core; the kind that creeps up and takes hours to thaw. What beauty is there in the dark closing in? Why fawn over dawns that make days hard to wake to? When the instinct to hide and hibernate reappears, and the shadows grow longer with heartache and fears. These edges are gilded with orange and bronze; the world is on fire, still bleeding with life. While it feels like the end, there’s a case not to dwell – There are warmth and beginnings and stories to tell. This isn’t the end; there’s more to be done; the sun may be pale, but it’s not gone for good. Escape to the warmth; find peace in the plain; what’s approaching will pass and spring will breeze in again.
by Jo Fisher
Anne at “At Home a Lot” has written a post on the Importance of Slowing Down, which includes tips on how to slow down which we should all take heed of.
Read more: Blogtober posts
Thanks for mentioning my blog. I’m reading through a lot of people mentioning SAD. I love the hedgehog photos. I often wish I could hibernate throughout the summer! (yes, you did read that right)