Virtual nature therapy

CAROLINE BLOOR, CONSUMER AFFAIRS DIRECTOR

I’m not usually a fan of social media, but in 2020 I dusted off an old Instagram account I had created and started posting pictures of my lockdown walks in the town where I live. As a mostly solo walker, I listened to audiobooks for company and took pictures on my phone of the parks, lakes, woods and wildlife on my doorstep. I won’t lie, it was affirming to receive ‘likes’, and my photography skills have improved hugely. Yet it was the comments I received from friends who were shielding, unwell, or stuck in tiny flats that made me feel I was doing something useful by sharing my own

‘nature therapy’. I lost both parents last summer and I cannot overestimate how uplifting and restorative these walks have been through the often overwhelming grief. It showed me that even when life is in chaos, you can still find pleasure in the simple things. @carobloor

Even when life is in chaos, you can still find pleasure in little things