Day 3: Listen to the Wild Around You
What do you hear when you stop to listen?
Heroine, today is all about tuning in. The wild has its own soundtrack, but too often, we rush through life without pressing play.
Today’s prompt:
Listen to the sounds around you during a quiet moment outside. What do you hear that surprises you?
Maybe it’s the rustle of leaves in the wind, the crunch of snow underfoot, or the distant call of a bird. Or maybe it’s the silence itself—a stillness that makes space for your thoughts, like the pause between chapters in a book.
Speaking of books, have you ever noticed how nature often plays a role in the best stories? Whether it’s the moors of Wuthering Heights or the rivers of Where the Crawdads Sing, the natural world shapes characters, reveals truths, and inspires change.
Take a moment to reflect: If your life were a novel, what role would nature play in your story?
Share your thoughts in the comments below, or on Substack Notes, tagging your reflections with #LoveTheWild. We’d love to hear the soundtrack of your day—and the stories it inspires.
Keep listening,
Jill & the Outdoor Book Club Team
P.S. Receiving too many emails from us? Opt out of the challenge here:
We’ve been lucky to have a lot of snow this new year, but today it’s warming up and I could hear rain on my bedroom window. I love hearing the rain most times during the year—but not when it makes the snow all mushy and gross (and then later freezes). But the sound of it, held in the moment without thinking of the future & past, was soothing, and so for just a moment I let it be.
In my own story, nature plays the role of a sort of sidekick—a Hermione or Obi Wan Kenobi. Wise, steady, always by my side— sometimes playing a major role, sometimes just in the background (during times when I’m often heavily focused on work). But it’s always there, standing just off to the side, offering wisdom and bringing me back to my true self.
Today we got about three inches of beautiful, fluffy snow that stuck to every tree branch, large and tiny--about as pretty as winter can be. I noticed when I walked to my house from the car after returning home from work at noon that it was utterly silent--the snow absorbed every songbird tweet, the hum of the distant road--it was so silent I felt like I could hear the snow gently falling around me. Just gorgeous...
In my own story, nature is the setting. My parents cross-country ski, sail, fish, drive down two-tracks looking for deer and wild blueberries, and so on... Growing up, our condo was not a home so much as a staging area for our gear for the next adventure, and jobs were just a way to pay for the next toy or trip. It cracks me up when my parents worry about my adventures and tell me to be careful--they're the ones who trained me to see nature as more of a home than anywhere else.