Good Morning, SuperForest!
As most of you may already know, in celebration of our most recent partnership with the fabulous Jon Marro and Blend Apparel, Jon suggested we kick things off with a special SuperForest challenge. For this challenge, we asked that you reflect upon your own lives and tell us how you are “living SuperForest.” It’s a very difficult question, no doubt, I’m not even sure I could easily give an eloquent answer. But, as is often the case, you SuperForesters rose up to the challenge and gave us breathtaking responses.
I, like Jon, read every submission we received. And I, like Jon, felt absolutely moved and inspired by every single submission. After reading them all, I also must admit, I felt almost sorry for Jon because I knew I had given him a very very difficult task in choosing three winners. Of course, despite it being difficult, he handled it with great poise and I thank him for his generosity and his participation in helping to create this challenge. I also thank every individual that submitted us a response, your answers served as extreme motivation as we continue to proceed with the growing of this site. The amount of validation and loving support we received couldn’t have come at a better time and nothing could fully express our gratitude toward you all.
As a part of the original challenge proposal, we said we would publish the winning responses on SuperForest. It is therefore, with great pleasure that I present to you the first of the three winning submissions, SuperForester Mickie’s “A SuperForest Life”:
I am living a Superforest life, because I am reimagining myself as more positive and mindful person.
I have spent most of my life severely depressed. I never allowed myself to have value or worth. I thought I could not accomplish things and if I did, it still was not enough. I would often set goals that were way beyond my means., because I thought that doing little stuff did not matter and for anything to matter it had to be on such a grand scale. My depression grew until I was basically going through the motions of life. I went to work, watched TV, went to bed and repeat. I did nothing that was bettering my life or my community. I wanted my depression to go away but was too scared to face my depression, because I thought I was permanently “broken” and that there would be no help for me. I really felt detached from people and very alone.
Slowly I started believing in myself and looked for ways to better myself. However I still did not feel connection to society as a whole, and did not ask for help. My progress was slow and I often would abandon it. However, my pace intensified when I went on Jason Mraz’s website and read his journal. He has similar self denying ways and I felt another person understood me and what I was going through. And if he could change his ways, so could I. He also had a link to Superforest and I was instantly hooked. The Superforest Manifesto put into words many of the things I felt, yet was unable to recognise because of my depression. Both sites really made me want to change and gave me tools that I needed to succeed.
I really started to look at my life in a new way. I finally asked for help and went to therapy. My therapist really helped me to understand why I was behaving certain ways and made me reconsider my rules for life. I rewrote my rules to be more supportive and started to build self worth and true love for myself. I finally moved out from under the cloud of depression. I am still working on getting rid of it completely, but am amazed at how different my life is because of these changes.
As I was reevaluating my life I looked to see what was important to me. I always liked helping our and volunteering my time, but what cause should I support? I had recently moved to Louisville, KY and really loved going to the wonderful park systems here. I thought back to when I was a kid, and how my parents would take the family camping any chance they got. I loved those camping trips, because they were an escape from all the problems and depression I was facing. I really believe that if it were not for my experience with nature I would have killed myself long ago. So I decided that I needed to give back to nature. It always makes me feel so at peace and feel loved.
So I looked up a green group online and started going to the meetings and learning about the environment and ways to change it for the better. I met some great people and learned many valuable lessons. One lesson was that there is always something more you can do for the environment. There is really not an end-all be-all state where you have personally solved all the worlds problems. So start out small and do what you can. So I started recycling. Then I started bringing a container of water to work instead of getting several plastic water bottles at work. Then I thought I should collect others water bottles and recyclables and bring those when I take my recycling in. With each step it gave me more hope and happiness. It also inspired me to do more.
At the meeting I was going to there was talk about creating a sustainablity coalition. They were planning on having an event to launch the coalition, and I wanted to help. I attended planning meetings and helped out with planning the layout and aided the art department with signs. After the event I signed up with the communications and event committees. I did most of the design work for the coalition and helped booth several events. I am still active with the coalition and am excited to see what we can accomplish.
I also started volunteering with The Olmsted Parks Conservancy. Louisville was fortunate enough to have a great park system, and several of them were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. Many of these are my favorite parks. I started showing up on Saturday morning for their volunteer events. We do invasive species removal, planting, mulching, storm cleanup and trash removal. At first I came every now and again, but soon I was showing up almost every Sat. They saw that I was showing up so frequently that they had me take the pesticide applicator test so I could help out more. This Wed. I was made a Park Volunteer Naturalist. They want me to start leading events and taking on more responsibilities. I am really excited to help them out.
Finally, and I feel most importantly, I am embracing the Superforest life by connecting to people. I try to smile and greet everyone I pass by. And to not let my self be too scared to talk to people. I feel such a greater connection to society as a whole. I no longer just want to stay isolated, but get out there and meet people. I am noticing that so many people get shocked when there are greeted with a smile. I often see people who look sad, but smile back. However they don’t go back to being sad. I often see them keep that smile and even better pass it on to someone else. When you connect to people you want to help them, and in return that helps you.
I feel I am living a Superforest life because I choose not to see things for how they are, but as what they can be. I am surrounding my self with positivity and encouraging those around me to do the same. I am making the environment a better place, by doing small things that add up to a lot. I am not only improving nature, but all that I see around me. I pick up trash on the ground and recycle what I can. I connect to people and show them love. I also am working on me. Making myself a better and happier person. Thank you Superforest for being that positive voice in my head, and for being a great friend who has complete support and love for me.
I must admit, I got a little choked up when I read this. I mean it from the bottom of my heart when I say SuperForester Mickie is an inspirational individual that we can all learn from.
From your fans here at SuperForest,
Thank you and congratulations, Mickie!
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