What Am I Supposed to Do?

a nudge from nature about the nature of life

Thanks for connecting here at Nature Moments, where we explore the wonders unfolding in the world all around us all the time. I hope my photography + stories will inspire you to be curious, be amazed, and then do it again!

There’s this very special quality of the natural world that often fascinates me. All the many and varied living things in nature are always doing exactly what it is that they are supposed to be doing. There are no doubts, there’s no second-guessing, there’s no weighing competing priorities and making tough choices and having regrets. There’s this activity, in this moment, and the next activity, in the next moment. Simple.

You will never find a bird fidgeting his wings like, Oh dear, I flew, but now I wonder, should I have hopped instead? Oh, I’m just here hunting and hunting, what if I should be singing?

Wait, is this the best time for my personal spa-bath, or have I forgotten something more important? I wish I would have spa-bathed earlier, when the sun was warmer…

And the plant world is no different. A plant is always doing just what it’s supposed to be doing. It’s taken stock of all its temperatures and timings and moisture levels and available resources, and it’s acting in perfect confidence. It’s a leaf.

It’s a flower.

Time to make seeds.

Time to snuggle down into deep roots until next spring. There’s no wondering, Have I done enough, Have I grown enough, Oh no, should I have put more aside for a rainy day?

And do you know, even in that critical moment when a little wild creature gets scooped up suddenly by a sharp-eyed predator, nature is doing exactly what nature is supposed to be doing. The predator is not wondering whether he really needs a snack with those few extra pounds he’s gained lately. The prey is not wishing he could go back in time and take an extra zig instead of that last zag. In this moment, both the predator and the prey have given all their very best efforts, and the result is, simply, lunch.

Time and tide, days and seasons, sun and moon and stars - everything is always doing just what it’s meant to be doing at any given moment. Oh no, I’ve been rising so long, perhaps I should have begun falling by now? Oh no, it’s rain again, have I overdone it, should it be sunshine instead? I’m running way behind on the spring thaw!

I, on the other hand, often feel uneasy about whether I’m doing just what I’m supposed to be doing in this little sliver of my time on earth.

What if, when I’m writing, it would be better if I were weeding? What if, when I’m weeding, it would be better if I were writing? And what if all the weeding and all the writing are pointless, and there’s something else I should be doing, instead?

Every now and then, I am 100% certain that I am doing just exactly what I ought to be doing. It happens most often when I’m doing some simple task of basic necessity to daily family life. It’s a profoundly simple peace, the same peace that permeates a natural world that lives and breathes in this unwavering state.

For all those other moments, when life’s demands tug this way and that, I have to make a choice. To let go of the doubts and the second-guessing. To let what I can do be enough. I live in a world that I can neither predict nor control, despite all my very best efforts. It is the very same world where all the plants, and the animals, and the times and the tides live and breathe and rise and fall. And ultimately, like all of them, I too am a part of everything that is always doing just what it’s meant to be doing at any given moment!

Your support helps me keep on writing & photographing!

Visit my online gallery for custom-print wall art and decor, and bring some Nature Moments home to your everyday life!

Enjoy bringing the outside in? Come visit us at Riven Joiner & the Homestead Store for hand-crafted, nature-inspired Artisan Soaps, Woodworking & Home Goods.