Nature's Own

"Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you."
-Frank Lloyd Wright

Coming to the University of Texas at Austin, I had a pretty good idea of what my life would be like…or so I thought. I pictured myself getting up for class with the sun shining through my window. I would have a nice breakfast as I listened to music and packed my bags. Walking to class, I would enjoy the beautiful day that I was about to take on, thinking about how fabulous it is to be at a school like UT.

All of my predictions were not incorrect. However, they were not all correct either, by any means.

On a typical day, I wake up and sit in bed quietly, wolfing down a bowl of Special K cereal before hoping up to prepare for the day. I then scramble through my drawers, keeping the music off the noise down to ensure I don’t wake my sleeping roommate. Blurry eyed, I make it to the bathroom and proceed to brush my teeth, throw my hair up, and jam my contacts into my eyes, racing through the process and rushing out of the door. I hurry to class, speaking briefly with my parents, beginning to ponder the enormous amount of work I have to do. This reality of my life is quite different than I had pictured it.

Another major difference is the mental state I have taken on since beginning school. Yes, I heard college was hard. But how hard could it be? That question was answered when I bombed my first Chemistry exam after attempting to cram it all in last minute, “notebook after notebook” (738) full of information I failed to remember, the way I did in high school. But “how do I anticipate coping with such pressures that reality imposes on me?” (Julie Chang). And on came the stress…

And with the stress came the need to study…a lot. Luckily, I found a variety of places that suited me quite well. One was the library in the Tower, located on the second floor. The silence of the room beckoned me to study, sunlight streaming in to shimmer on the faces of the diligent students sitting and working for hours. Outside, the gardens beneath me served as a sort of fortress protecting me from the outside world, keeping those unwilling to study out of the area. The green grass and bellowing trees created a very serene environment. I felt at peace as I sat in the large, cozy chair tucked inside this great Tower.

After staying inside many days studying, I decided the weather had become mild enough to enjoy the outdoors. I chose a nice spot in the six-pack near the Tower gardens. I even went as far as bringing a towel to sprawl out on and plenty of study materials to last me the afternoon. By this time of the year, the stress had begun to accumulate and the walls of the PCL were not very inviting. The grass and gardens seemed to be the perfect place. As I sat on my towel, I saw “all kinds [of people] come through the [garden] and come at all times” (732). I was getting a broad view of the diversity this campus possesses. There were athletes, punks, intellects, professors, fraternity and sorority members, and everything in between. The campus belonged to me; I knew it better than anyone else did at that moment as I observed its many components. Occasionally I would “break off and acknowledge the pleasant greetings of people when [they] passed,” (731) but for the most part, I was in my own serene and peaceful world.

Like Margaret, when visiting the Taniguchi Gardens, “I grasped with visceral reaction a sense of inner harmony. I struggle to reconcile these two worlds: one filled with daunting yet necessary responsibility, and the other a place of undulated appreciation and conciliation” (Margaret Clemons). I wanted so badly to sit and enjoy the wind rustling the bushes, the fish swimming through the pond, the light peaking through the trees. I knew, however, that I had work to do and to simply enjoy would not be using my time wisely. Sometimes, it is necessary to put all work to the side and live in the moment, live in the garden, live through nature. It is truly special and precious when we can combine, hammer, if you will, our desire to be in nature with our need to be productive. This is when we truly can stand out while remaining calm and grounded.

Nature and the outdoors do amazing things when used in the right way. I find myself to be more relaxed and at peace with my reality and everything required of me when I am outside, whether laying on a towel in the gardens or sitting at a table on the Starbucks porch. Going into this next week, I have a tremendous amount of work to be done, however I know that with nature on my side and the power of relaxation, I will be able to get through it successfully and with as little stress as possible.