NOTES on. writing // find your soundtrack
Looking to express your story within or find a way to more balanced wellbeing? Come write with me, from nature to page.
My final NOTE from a. botanical world is about writing. Writing and wellbeing to be specific. It’s been a tough year for me through a divorce, house move, the loss of loved ones, and the care of anguished children, and I’ve managed about as much personal writing as I have seed sowing. I’ve also been extremely stressed and in constant survival mode . . . and when the adrenalin runs out there’s exhaustion and distraction and panic. As a freelance writer and editor of many years I’m used to working in a very self-disciplined way; it can be quite unsettling when those foundational skills appear to falter (temporarily thankfully).
Writing this newsletter reminds me just how powerful committing words to paper – the rhythm and flow of sentences, the weaving together of little islands of ideas, the expression of your own personal narrative – can truly be. How a daily practice of journalling, or perhaps writing that book, however difficult in the beginning, can instil the discipline not just to be ‘a writer’ but to promote a constant balance of emotions, and thus improved wellbeing and health. Dopamine minus the adrenaline. A direct line to the parasympathetic rest-and-digest (the opposite of that pesky amygdala hijack of fight, flight, freeze, or flop – the primary responses to fear).
I’ll therefore be leaving some little NOTES at the bottom of each newsletter to encourage anyone else who loves writing but might be out of habit, or those looking for a route to improved wellbeing, to pick up that pen.
A soundtrack to nature
I write about the ‘botanical world’ because it basically allows me to write about anything and everything, such is the interconnectedness of nature. Sometimes I focus on the little things, sometimes the bigger picture, but most often the two merge into one.
So my first piece of advice would be to get outside. Take some headphones and stick on the radio (I love Lauren Laverne’s show on Radio 6, from 7.30am until 10.30am) or tunes that inspire or help you relax. Then walk, stroll, run, jump, lie down – whatever works for you – in tune with the presenters or the music.
I’m endlessly distracted as I go, by a bluebell, a tree, a bird in song. I often take a picture. I always find my mind wandering, creating narratives as I go. When you get home, write it down. Write what down, you say? Your thoughts . . . a description of a flower, the largesse of the sky, just choose a topic and see where it takes you.
I do use a journal to take notes but find typing much more lyrical. Substack is a great platform for getting your thoughts down as you don’t have to publish everything you scribe. Then try and set up a regular habit. Every day, or once a week. Anything more and you’ll drift out of the routine.
Every so often you’re write something you really love – a lyrical sentence, an original description, a new concept or philosophy, a truth that needed to come out, a piece of guidance or inspiration for someone else. And then you’re hooked, spurred on by your own words.