 There is something very special about the first real feeling of spring arriving When you can feel that shift of energy all around you and in your heart There are no words to really describe it. I find it is just a feeling that I get with this time of year. I love when I can smell the fragrant scents and smells as I ride along from all the flowers coming into bloom One of my favorites are the Jacaranda trees. I love how their purple color stands out among the different Shades of green from all the other trees around it Sometimes I'll have a big wave of some fragrant rose or flower as I ride past and I'll stop in my tracks and try and find Where the scent came from These are one of the beauties of spring. There is so much life coming back into the world after the cool months of winter This spring was a particularly wonderful time for me this year After finishing my course in marine conservation and restoration this past July I went on placement out on Heron Island just off the coast of Gladstone in northern Australia Which is a tiny island surrounded by a beautiful reef and they have one of the biggest Research stations in the southern hemisphere for studying corals and marine life. I was a volunteer for the research station for just over two weeks and my time there was absolutely magical. I snorkeled around the reef almost every day and explored the ocean around the island seeing the most incredible corals and marine life It was like a whole other world under the sea I spent hours outside in the water exploring the reefs seeing all sorts of fish sea turtles reef sharks like the white-tipped reef shark and black-tipped reef shark Eagle rays stingrays So many different types of marine life The whole reef was just alive and teeming was life I Unfortunately just missed seeing the mother sea turtles coming onto the beach to nest They begin nesting during the end of October beginning of November and Apparently you can see hundreds of turtles on the beaches at night laying their eggs during the peak nesting season The eggs don't hatch until the end of January and when they do you can see hundreds of baby sea turtles making their way to sea When I go back, I hope to be able to time it with either the nesting or hatching season To be able to see the beautiful mother turtles coming into nest and to see the gorgeous baby turtles making their way out to sea I met some of the most amazing people while I was there some of them researchers collecting data on the corals around the island Others were staff working at the hotel or the research station on the island I'm so grateful for my time there. It was the most incredible experience and I hope to go back again some day On my last evening on the island. There was a mini concert on the beach Meg Washington did a small performance on guitar by the water and a few of us from the research station came to watch her perform acoustic She was amazing and she got us to sing along with her while we all gathered around to watch Saying goodbye to all the friends I had made and even the island itself was really hard But I promised myself that I would be back again to visit soon It was such a place of beauty and serenity there One of the big lessons from the island for me has been to slow down While being on the island I developed a routine of doing a few hours of volunteer work in the mornings and Dedicated my afternoons to practicing being present and enjoying nature as much as possible I'd go diving for hours Soaking up the rays of the Sun and enjoying the salty sea and its healing energy Before leaving for the island I'd gotten myself into a bit of a rut I'd prioritized my work over my own health and well-being and became a bit of a workaholic My days became about how much productivity I could fit into the hours of the day And I wouldn't finish working on my computer until around 9 p.m. At night I'd sacrificed all of my self-care practices in the name of productivity And so by the time I set off to go to the island I was exhausted Fatigued and totally burnt out I made a promise to myself that when I returned home it was going to be different So I looked at my time on the island as a kind of reset A time to foster habits and practices where self-care wasn't just a nice idea But a necessity in a regular part of my daily routine My time on the island was where I started practicing the art of slow living It was where I chose slow living over the hustle culture Slow living is a lifestyle which promotes a slower approach to everyday life It's where people decide to live a more balanced meaningful life through slowing things down and appreciating both the world around them and what they have I see it as a way to make more time for self-care A big project of mine this spring has been creating my own vegetable garden at the back of our house It's been a my to-do list for over the past year and a half since I moved But I've only now started making the time to actually make it happen Kevin our friendly neighborhood bush turkey has been wrecking havoc long before I moved there And made it impossible for me to grow anything as he would come and dig it up as soon as I planted any new seedlings So I built a very simple amateur DIY fence to keep him and his friends from digging up the soil and my new plants along with it So far so good. It's been able to keep the bush turkeys out, which has been a huge win The new plants I'm growing are aloe vera, lavender, our raspberry plant, marigold, Calendula and peppermint, but I hope to add to the garden over time With spring I feel a deep wonder for the beauty around me and a deep sense of gratitude for being alive So my commitment over this time and moving forward is to live life a little bit more slowly To take in the beauty around me enjoy where I am now and to enjoy the tasks I'm doing not be so caught up in the next thing or fitting in so many things into my days Instead of being as productive as I can I want to cherish life and be in it Present living my life how I want to not how I feel society believes I should No more hustle instead. I want to take in and savor the moment I don't mind working really hard as long as I feel a passion for it But I also want to balance work with time for myself And that is still something I'm learning to find To find a balance in and what works for me Thank you so much for watching my video. I hope to see you again soon. Take care. Goodbye for now