I Believe in Nature

I believe that nature impacts and inspires us in our everyday lives. Nature provides me with serenity and the occasional sense of exhilaration. On a daily basis, we shelter ourselves from the outdoors in such an ironic manner; we block ourselves from the outdoors with clear barriers that allow us to appreciate and become distracted by the nature. Any vacation we take is usually destined to have us outside on the beach, in a forest, with animals, or coasting through the ocean. We all use nature as an outlet from the busy city life that we all have to go through. In the midst of the city, we use nature as inspiration and motivation to design and power through our difficulties.

Ever since I was a little girl my connection with nature and with animals has been greater than my connection with the house or even my own room. Whenever I go on trips to Ruidoso, NM, I find myself in the forest more than I find myself indoors. The trees, the buildings and people of the city. While I am outside in the woods I feel my creativity, energy and relaxations levels increase simultaneously. I have always felt like my mind was significantly clearer and more susceptible to creating something interesting and beautiful. Hiking through the forest of Ruidoso always leaves my mental state in a perfect balance between peace and exhilaration. This sentiment is not one that has occurred only once; it is one that reoccurs and that is craved. Whenever the weather is nice and my mind feels it needs to be cleared, the first activity that comes to my mind, aside from sleep, is either hiking or camping in the woods.

Whenever I get back from Ruidoso, I feel more inspired and motivated to design for and live a healthier and focused lifestyle. There are so many concepts and motions that nature leaves me with that I do not even realize most of them immediately. For instance, we recently designed a bird watching station and my inspiration for my design came from my time in Ruidoso. I realized immediately that I wanted my structure, which was built on a slope of forty-five degrees, to be about the peoples’ experience and connection with the environment rather than the structure itself. It turned out to be a very successful project. Oftentimes in my designs I try to look at the surrounding nature of the site and allow that environment to be accentuated by my design. We as designers typically design with the intention of escaping the urban and busy world and focusing on the natural, peaceful world.

There are so many events and feelings and ideas that we have that can only be best described or explained through an association with nature. Nature is everywhere. It is inspiring, beautiful, powerful, incomparable, and ultimately our link to inner peace. When we are outside, nature impacts our thoughts and our ideas and such; while indoors, it inspires our thoughts and ideas.