Acorns and Balance

[Restlessness - IX]

My friend Willie is a farmer and he helped me notice something about restlessness: Peacefulness and restlessness are not mutually exclusive.

Like the peaceful oak tree, he says, “[I am] under constant unseen pressures.”

Willie isn’t any run-of-the-mill farmer. He’s a conservation farmer, doing his part to regenerate, restore, reforest, and re-wild his slice of earth. He much prefers those “R” words than restlessness.

But not everyone is doing the good work Willie does. Nor do they care. Lately, three neighbors started logging already-logged lands. He laments, "As I fight to remove prickly invasive species for the little oaks to see light, nearby logging paves the way for invasive species to spread.”

He’s tired, sore, and restless.

Willie draws a wonderful contrast to his restlessness, which is not the removal of it, but rather, a means to balance it. “Moments of peace come in the form of regular walks through the woods with my 4 year-old twin daughters, collecting acorns and climbing branches.”

Sometimes restlessness needs balance.
Children help.
Walks in the woods do, too.
Climbing tees, for sure.

When your world is getting logged, where do you find balance? Where are the "woods" you walk through? What's the "tree" you climb?