“There's a lot of data showing that spending time in nature is good for us emotionally and physically. We don't really know the mechanism from a scientific point of view, but we know the correlation where spending time in the woods, or in a meadow, or with an animal, has soothing effects on us. It counters stress. The body needs time to recover from stress; it needs recovery activity. The problem with life today is that stress is unremitting for many. And it's all too easy to say, well, I'll skip that walk in nature—I've got stuff to do, and that stuff to do is stressful. But this eventually leads to emotional exhaustion, and that's the prelude to burnout. So I really encourage people to schedule a recovery activity every day, whether it's playing with a pet, or a walk in nature, or meditation, or yoga, whatever works for you. Do it every day. Even though it looks like a waste of time from that get-things-done point of view, it's not a waste of time. It's restoring yourself so you'll be better able to handle whatever it is you need to do.”