A young boy runs into his kitchen and throws his backpack onto the somewhat bubbling laminate floor. Ignoring his mother’s question of “do you have homework?”, the boy runs onto his front porch. He stops in his tracks, closes his eyes, and takes a deep breath filled with air that dances with the scent of early spring’s melting snow. As his eyes slowly open, a faint smile paints his face. The time of day that brings him so much as finally arrived. With the energy of the wind picking up behind him, the boy launches off his porch and enters a world where anything is possible, his imagination.
Living in the middle of no where has its pros and cons. Being a minimum of twenty minutes away from everything and everyone you love is perhaps the biggest downside (If I had it my way, there would be a year round ice cream shop opened in every town, so my sweet tooth could always be satisfied, but I digress). Despite this and many other cons, living among the tress is not as bad as it sounds. For starters, I never have to worry about rowdy neighbors keeping me up on a school night, as the closest house to mine could blast music at full volume and I would not bat an eyelash. My driveway is never used as turn around point for lost drivers and randoms cars driving by in general is a rare occurrence. These are all small reasons why being emerged in nature is fairly nice, but the greatest pro of all is the world of possibilities for those willing to dive into their imagination.
Growing up, I loved to play outside after school and quite literally use the world as my playground. With trees, rocks, and streams surrounding my house, my little imagination ran wild. A walking stick became a wand. A rock wall became a cliff’s edge that I must cross on my way to slay the dragon. No matter what I ran across outside, you bet it would be incorporated in the universe I was creating.
I look back at this time in my life and realize that is was truly the catalyst for my love of storytelling. Without the endless nature that served as my blank canvas as a child, I would not have fallen in love with writing, my true passion. I have the tress, rocks, and water to thank for helping discover my purpose in life. Without these things, I would be lost.
I now feel like it is my responsibility to give back to the natural world. This platform is a starting point for me, a place where I can highlight the beauty of our world and remind any who stumbles upon my posts that nature does so much for us. Join me in creating the World’s Journal and giving a voice to perhaps my biggest inspiration in life, the forever blank canvas filled with possibilities, our planet.
