Take the natural solution to combat virus anxiety
FIRST, let me tell you about the column I didn’t write. I didn’t write a column about the latest virus restrictions. I didn’t write about the people I know who work in pubs and cafes and restaurants who are coming to the end of their tether, and I didn’t write about the people on Twitter who are angry about Trump, and Sturgeon, and Johnson, and everything else. That’s what I didn’t do.
Instead, I went outside. I went to Lanarkshire, to an old Roman encampment a couple of miles outside the town, and I met a bunch of people there, gardeners and volunteers, and we weaved in and out of the trees until we reached a clearing and we planted some saplings and shrubs. Mint and raspberry bushes by the path. Willow further in. And wild roses. And oak. So that’s what I’m going to write about instead: the effects I noticed – on the forest, and on us.
What was particularly striking was the effect on an old introvert and socialphobe like me. For months now, I’ve been stuck in the house more than usual and, a little to my surprise, I’ve missed things I thought I never would: the crush in Glasgow on a Saturday afternoon; the push and shove at the bar in a pub; hugs, back-slaps, shoulder-squeezes, kisses. The fact that there’s less of it has left me feeling, sometimes, a little paranoid, and a little emotional, and a little less than me.
Some of this is perfectly normal (please tell me I’m normal): in a besieged situation, we’re bound to feel differently and a bit weird and occasionally over-emotional (the latest thing to get me bubbling unexpectedly was the advert featuring Joe Biden and his dog). But I can’t help thinking that maybe some of us are making it worse for ourselves. Some of us could learn the lesson of the trees.
Monty Don knows what I’m talking about. The broadcaster and gardener has been discussing his new book this week and one of the points he’s made is about our lack of connection to outside. “Whenever I’m in a city,” he said, “the thing I notice most – and which shocks me most – is how many people are walking along with headphones in, looking at a phone. They’re not noticing anything at all – the weather, the sky, any other sounds. And that has to be bad for you. It has to be.”
Monty should know what he’s talking about – not only is he a gardener, he’s suffered from depression over the years and what he’s noticed is that people are often connecting to nature through TV documentaries and social media posts about the threat to the environment and animals – and then presumably tweeting a sad-face emoji – rather than connecting to nature outside. And he’s worried in particular about the shallowness of the online experience – “a little learning and not much depth” as he puts it.
Another obvious problem is the way social media can induce anxiety. I’ve noticed it myself: the more I scroll through other people’s fury and frustration, the more unpleasant I feel; it’s a somewhat nauseous feeling and it’s been heightened by the virus restrictions. People have become averse to going outside, fearful, enclosed, and so they stay in and scroll through the doom and fury. Angry-face emoji.
The answer is to take Monty’s advice and put your phone away and go outside and all I can say is: it works. The reason I was at the wood in Lanarkshire is because I’m the trustee of the charity that is looking after the trees and also building a hut that can be used by the local community, and after a day of digging and shovelling, I felt better. Dirtier, hungrier, and more tired, but better. The doom on my phone receded. The trees banished it.
My fellow volunteers felt the same. The charity hut is part of a new hutting community, The Encampment, which is slowly emerging in the middle of the woods and the men and women who own the huts have been telling me about the effects of no electricity, no wi-fi, no noise, and no phones. Suddenly, they feel firmer: their roots to the ground feel stronger.
If you’d like to know more about the work we’re doing at the site, do search for “The Encampment – Lanarkshire” on Google, but actually, as Monty Don says, all you need to do is go outside.
Not everyone lives near woods, but everyone can stop and listen for the animals. Not everyone has a garden, but everyone is close to a tree. Not everyone is addicted to their phones, but everyone – anyone – can turn the blasted thing off.
The answer is to take Monty’s advice and put your phone away and go outside