Salt and Pepper. The power of environment...

For me, Tennessee is home.  I raised my daughter in Nashville.  After she had finished high school, I moved to Orlando.  But I never felt at home.  And Orlando is the place that my depression seemed to become worse.  I didn’t feel “at home”, so it was easy to become depressed. Because I have a daughter who lives outside of Nashville, moving back to Tennessee has been an important step in my recovery.  A few months ago, I accomplished that move.  And since that time, I have been very aware of how important environment is to MY recovery.  I moved to a small community outside of Nashville.  It is rural.  Housing developments compete with farm areas in which people keep cows and horses.  The hills are beautiful.  Tennessee is green and the weather is much more moderate than what I found in Orlando.  It’s beautiful to me.  And I can see the impact of that on my mood.

Near my daughter’s home, there is a house with a side yard.  The side yard is large, with trees and some hilly areas.  And there are two horses that live in that side yard. These horses are smaller, so they are probably more accurately called ponies.  One is dark brown.  The other is white.  Because I don’t know their names, I’ve nicknamed them Salt and Pepper.  I’ve had many opportunities to get to know Salt and Pepper, because I pass by their home while my daughter drives me to or from her house.  They seem to hang out together a lot.  They look like they are good friends because they are never far from each other.  And they even look like they are conversing…maybe gossiping about the cars and people that keep on passing them.

Salt and Pepper are fun to watch.  I keep threatening to have my daughter drop me by the side of the road so I can do more than watch them as I pass by.  I find them interesting.  And comforting.  And like a little piece of home.  This leads to another recovery tool for me. Finding comfort through my environment and feeling at home are very important.  I feel very blessed because not everybody gets to live someplace that feels like home and is comforting.  I can put up with a lot when I am feeling comfortable with my environment.  Tennessee has been that kind of place for me.

When I am dealing with a difficult issue and I am feeling anxious and depressed, Salt and Pepper really do cheer me up.  I look for them as I pass on a daily basis.  And they have been out more than they haven’t.  So, I consider Salt and Pepper therapeutic.  Being ponies, I am relatively sure that won’t mean a whole lot to them.  But it means the world to me.  What in your environment has that kind of impact on you?  Is there a building that is particularly interesting?  Or a place that the sunset is more than a little special?  How are you impacted by your surroundings?  Can you see the beauty around you?  Share your stories with me.  And I will share them with Salt and Pepper when I finally stop and have some quality time with them.