DRAGONFLY DAYDREAMS

Only yesterday, I was watching a dragonfly hover over my pond and thinking of all the challenges it faces in its short life, making the worries I’d gone out to forget about pale into insignificance. It’s sobering to think how tough life can be for everything else that lives alongside each other outdoors, while simply wandering along taking in some air.

It’s sometimes hard to justify ‘going for a walk’, as it may seem as though there’s no real purpose for it. Usually most of us are travelling from A to B in a hurry when we’re walking, heading somewhere we need to be. But just going for a walk is taking time out for ourselves, which is really important. We don’t need a reason to do it and we don’t need to wait for someone to go with – taking time out for our physical and mental health is a very good reason in itself.

I’ve witnessed the wider power of walking first-hand over the years with the Countryfile Ramble for Children in Need, walking with youngsters who have benefitted from the charity. All of them have gone to their ultimate extremes to raise awareness for those projects that have been life-changing for them.

My years working with Children in Need have made me realise that for those of us who can, the ability to walk should never be taken for granted. I only hope that, as the season changes and you look out of the window feeling that you should hunker down, please get yourself out there, have your senses awakened and observe the challenges around you. Feel that you’re never alone, especially when you walk among nature.