Top Five B.S. Reasons to Not Visit a Tree

as heard directly from my Inner Self-Saboteur

 

1. Too Tired. Yes, I am. But that is a B.S. excuse.
2. There will be nowhere to pee and its winter and no bushes to hide in. Yup, that is true. The management of tea consumption is key. B.S.
3. You should do something useful like laundry, or cleaning or emails. Yes, but NO.
4. It’s too cold. Yup. It is pretty cold. But I’ve got winter coat, hat, boots and mittens.It is a B.S. excuse.
5. Your visit is useless. The world is so full of problems–pandemics, social injustice, climate horror, lethargy what difference will your tree visit make anyway? That one hurts. But it is nevertheless B.S. because what we do matters. Now more than ever.

When I arrived at my tree, I felt a tightness in my face and throat–a closing of my mouth and nasal passages. Stress closes me off from the air, as if tension will protect me and those I love from covid-19. The roar of the QEW is a constant reminder of pollution and climate crisis but in this moment, leaning into my Oak, I remember that I can breathe. I can relax into the air and breathe. Freely.  I imagine a world in which artists, teachers, politicians, doctors, lawyers, all of us visit a tree once a week to breathe freely. What might be possible in such a world?