I have to admit that when I first heard about 30 Days Wild it seemed so obvious. I love nature, who doesn’t? In my head I wrote a quick list of the things I loved: watching the birds, trees and clouds – tick, tick, tick. But I felt slightly irritated when someone asked me to go for a walk at lunchtime. Didn’t they appreciate that I had so much work to do? How could I afford the time?

I thought, ‘I get it’. Yes, I know 30 Days Wild is good for you, being in nature is good for you. And I did understand at some deeper level. Through years of joy swimming in the sea on holidays, walking through woodlands and stopping to marvel at the incredible sight of blossoming flowers, I knew nature gave me the Nina Simone ‘feel good’ vibes.

But I didn’t really ‘get it’ and I certainly wasn’t already doing 30 Days Wild as if by some miracle, just because I worked for the Wildlife Trusts. But why not? I was busy and if I could finish work on time, I had a hundred and one things to do at home. Who on earth would do everything if I went for a walk?

While working on the 30 Days Wild challenge over many years, I discovered that 30 consecutive days was indeed a challenge. There was the difficulty of detangling from the pressures of daily work, chores, family demands, personal challenges and greater conflicts. However what I was to discover is that taking part in 30 Days Wild achieved this detangling with much less stress and frustration.

A simple daily dose of conscious nature connection became a daily pleasure. I’d sit and watch an enormous bumble bee going round and round the stamen of a red poppy or stop and stare at a butterfly lowering its long tongue into a flower. I learnt a lot about wildlife and different species that I never knew before.

The consistent daily practice of 30 days had a cumulative effect, like exercise, and there was a growing sense of freedom. Each new day became easier to tune in to nature, over time there was more space to breathe and just be. It seemed as important to wellbeing as drinking water, eating nutritious food or sleep over the period of a month. I started to work better and came up with new creative ideas, felt less stressed.

Like building any habit, a certain discipline and will power is required at first. But over time it becomes a natural part of daily life, like mindfulness or a spiritual practice. To be at one with nature is to be at one with ourselves and this is beautiful, peaceful and joyful. So for me 30 Days Wild is akin to freedom. Wouldn’t we want to feel a drop, ray, flower, garden or whole sky of freedom on the breeze at least once every day?

This year is the 10^th 30 Days Wild. Over those years, three million people have taken part for an average of 24 days. It has become the UK’s largest nature challenge. If you haven’t tried it for yourself yet, why not give it a go? It’s not as easy as you might think. But it is certainly way more enjoyable and freeing than you could ever possibly imagine.