The beauty of #Alaska changed me. I had never seen an old-growth forest or walked through a temperate #rainforest before. Standing among trees that had lived for centuries, surrounded by the biodiversity of so many plants, fungi, and animals, shifted something in me. I started noticing the natural world in a way I never had. And somewhere along the way, I fell in love with being alive in a way I hadn’t felt before.

For a long time, I thought purpose was something I had to find one day. Instead, I found it by paying attention: learning the names of trees and mosses and mushrooms; watching a bear scratch its back on a tree; or just sitting quietly and noticing Stellar Jays bullying smaller birds away from the feeders. I realized the woods are full of stories, and it’s up to us to slow down and notice them.

Paying attention became an act of gratitude. Curiosity became how I moved through life. Slowly and quietly, my mental health started to heal.