{"id":32345,"date":"2017-10-17T14:04:38","date_gmt":"2017-10-17T18:04:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/?p=32345"},"modified":"2017-10-23T12:18:01","modified_gmt":"2017-10-23T16:18:01","slug":"the-one-where-i-take-a-nature-walk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2017\/10\/17\/the-one-where-i-take-a-nature-walk\/","title":{"rendered":"The One Where I Take a Nature Walk"},"content":{"rendered":"Its that time of year again where assignments are piling up, coffee intake is increasing by the day, and time seems to be slipping away. Because of back to back midterms and numerous essays coming up, my stress levels are at an all-time high. If you cannot relate, you must not be a university student.\r\n\r\nThe other day I noticed how negative and gloomy the atmosphere gets around this time of year\u2014and it isn\u2019t the weather because that has been amazing so far. Everyone around me seems to be saying the same thing, \u201cI have to stay up all night to study for this exam\u2026. I\u2019m so stressed out\u2026. can\u2019t wait for this semester to end and it just began!\u201d\r\n\r\nNow, to me something about this mood we get into just doesn\u2019t seem right\u2014nor is it healthy. I noticed how down I was getting and decided just to stop working for a couple of hours and just take a much-needed break. Not a fake break where, although I\u2019m not studying, I\u2019m still stressing about my assignments at the back of my mind.\r\n\r\nIn a city like Toronto, where day to day life is so busy, and the city is constantly alive, it gets overwhelming to always be at the centre of it. However, our beautiful campus has many quiet areas where one can find solitude. Solitude was something I desperately needed over the past few days. I decided to let myself wander and explore campus.\r\n\r\n
\"A<\/a>
Queens Park is so beautiful this time of year!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nWalking is like therapy for me. A good walk can change my mood, helps me take some calming breaths, and just take in the beauty around me. In our hurry to get to class or another study session or to get to work on time, we often forget to take in our surroundings and genuinely appreciate them. Our campus is stunning, especially during October, but we usually take it for granted.\r\nFor that one hour, I let myself do whatever it was I felt at the moment. I started by walking through the Queens Park and admired the beauty of the changing leaves, then made my way to the quiet Victoria College area. I usually don\u2019t explore this part of campus, so it was nice to discover its charming scenery. For that hour, I just walked without direction, and then sat on a bench for as long as possible just taking in my surroundings, which I had failed to observe in my years at University.\r\n\r\n\"IMG_4926\"<\/a>\r\nAll this while, I just listened to some calming music and was able to shut off my thoughts entirely. I didn\u2019t respond to any texts or calls, and honestly, it was great. I was able to return home afterward and in a much better mood with a sudden boost of energy. I think it is so important to take breaks like this one for your well-being. I definitely plan on taking advantage of our beautiful campus more often and go on one more of these unprompted nature walks!\r\n\r\n
\"We<\/a>
We sometimes fail to see the beauty around us.<\/figcaption><\/figure>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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\nIts that time of year again where assignments are piling up, coffee intake is increasing by the day, and time seems to be slipping away. Because of back to back midterms and numerous essays coming up, my stress levels are…\n<\/div>
Continue reading “The One Where I Take a Nature Walk”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>
Continue reading “The One Where I Take a Nature Walk”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":325,"featured_media":32349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1758,7204,62],"tags":[86,78,405],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32345"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/325"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32345"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32345\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32445,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32345\/revisions\/32445"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}