As 2024 is drawing to a close and the Winter Solstice is just around the corner, I find myself reflecting on how the year has gone and what to plan for in 2025. I want to thank all of you who have read my blog throughout the year. I am thankful that you have spent your valuable time reading my words.
Looking forward to the new year, I want to change up some of the routines and habits that I do not feel are serving me well anymore. One of the habits that I unintentionally fell into this year was not going out and enjoying nature as much as in previous years, whether that was gardening or visiting parks, and this has had a negative impact on my personal well-being. So, with that in mind, changing that behavioural pattern before it becomes too much of a habit is going to be one of my main points of focus for 2025. The activity that I am going to start to incorporate into my routine over the winter is nature journaling.
The reason that I have chosen to take on an outdoor journaling project in the middle of the cold Canadian winter is because the challenge that it presents is what makes it an interesting task to take on, which also makes it more likely for me to stick with it. Creating new habits is hard for most people, including myself; it is important for success to tailor new habits to what you find motivating.
For me, what I find motivating is something that is challenging but does not have a lot of strict rules and is related to what I already have an established interest in. Nature journaling is a way for me to revisit the roots of what I enjoy most, which is capturing the birds and other animals in my immediate environment through creative expression while observing and learning more about the natural world.
Winter is the time of year that a person can forsake the outdoors and hide away until the warm spring weather arrives. It can seem like a frozen wasteland of death and decay, but upon closer inspection, there can be magic to be found. I have written before on my blog about how amazing it is to learn about all of the different strategies that the various wild animals employ to cope with the frigid temperatures and deep snow that obscures most of what they would typically eat. Nature journaling is a way for me to find inspiration, be in the present moment, and gain the benefits of being outdoors.
As a way to create some accountability to further get in the habit of nature journaling, I have decided to take you all along with me on my winter nature journaling journey. I will be sharing my progress in a few posts throughout the winter, and I will be showing my journal pages as I make them, and I will also be discussing my successes and failures throughout the winter.
I’m wishing you all a happy new year, and I’ll leave you with one of my favourite quotes from Henry David Thoreau: “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.”
The Heron and Rose 