Ecological grief: I mourn the loss of nature – it saved me from addiction

I was struggling with my mental health when I started wandering daily on the marshes. The experience opened my eyes to the extraordinary healing power of the natural world

During a period of ill health a few years back, as I struggled with depression and addiction, three of the four elements that helped me to recover were straightforward: psychiatry; psychotherapy; and the support of others. The fourth was more mysterious, and I set out on a journey to try to understand it.

In my teenage years, I had developed an aptitude for drinking, as many adolescents do. But it was while working as a music journalist in my 20s that my addictions accelerated. By April 2012, at the age of 27, I was on my knees. I knew that the drink and drugs had to go: the highs were getting harder to achieve; the lows were becoming more dangerous, more self-destructive. I knew my mental and physical health were deteriorating, but I couldn’t seem to stop or cut down. After months of trying to do this alone, I found a rehabilitation programme and set out on a path to sobriety.

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