Finding your balance

Does the stress of the city ever start to press in on you so much that you feel as if you might pop? Don’t get me wrong, I love the bustle and myriad forms of entertainment found in a city. I also enjoy exploring a wide range of wonderful cuisines, but there are times when the noise and the frenzy simply gets to be too much.

We all have our ways of unwinding, but my personal favourite is to get back to nature. There’s nothing like tuning back into that slower pace without cell phones or laptops; where sitting by a lake and watching birds can teach me far more than repeated Web searches. Sure I know it may sound a little tree-huggy but hiking through the woods is actually a spiritual communion with nature. I find myself resolving longstanding internal questions and also recognising deeply ingrained patterns that I could maybe do better without.

I love seeing what I’m made of with a good hike – of being well and exhausted upon return. Food tastes better, I sleep better, and feel better about myself. Does any of this resonate? Or maybe your idea of relaxation is to sit poolside and delve into that long-anticipation bestselling fiction. Whatever your method, it’s important to remember to take some time out for yourself every now and again. To me, forest holidays are one of the very best ways to recharge – maybe it’s something altogether different for you. The main thing is to find those healthy ways to find your centre again, so that you can get back into the city to enjoy it wholeheartedly again.