Mother nature has always been my greatest teacher. If I say that I moved to Queenstown primarily to study hospitality, I would be denying the full depth of my decision. I had a wild craving for adventure, an itch that just wasn’t being scratched in the big smoke. I wanted to taste fresh lands, and behold new vistas. So, Queenstown was my portal key to nature.
Amidst the clamour of college campus, the stench of my own room and the pressure of lectures I was only half interested in, I needed some place I could call home. This is very important – we need a place where we feel comfortable and safe, so our minds get a chance to rejuvenate. I found mine in the Queenstown gardens.
Amidst the clamour of college campus, the stench of my own room and the pressure of lectures I was only half interested in, I needed some place I could call home. This is very important – we need a place where we feel comfortable and safe, so our minds get a chance to rejuvenate. I found mine in the Queenstown gardens.
When I first came upon this scene, Father Time slowed the turning of the cogs, and the Majesty of Mother Nature tore right through me. A single tear rolled down my cheek, heralding a radical shift in how I viewed the world. I glanced around, and the mountains were beaming at me. The deep lake was whispering my name. The trees were dancing in celebration. I had found my true home – it was Nature, and she was welcoming me in.
In the weekdays I was donning my business suit and attending college lectures that focussed on hospitality management. I certainly directed my attention on the subjects at hand, and it was helpful to learn professional food and beverage service, how to manage a hotel’s finances, and a range of other important skills. But this stuff was only concerning a career in hospitality. As my mind was opening up like a budding flower, I started to recognise that a 'career' is seated within a life, and that it was life that we should be cultivating first and foremost. There is so much more for us to learn, like how to harness emotions, insights of the authentic self, and ways of constructing a really meaningful life, to name a few. So I would dive into nature every opportunity I could get, cracking open the casket and letting my true self emerge to learn the ways of the wisest mystic there ever was.
Queenstown is curled up like a purring cat in a realm of raw beauty. There’s entire mountain ranges to graze, forests to kiss and valleys to sing to. I was always awestruck with the endless options of places to explore, and having the freedom to go and do whatever came to mind was thrilling. Sometimes I would go on epic adventures with fellow companions Ben and Callum, risking our lives climbing rock faces and drinking Devils cut bourbon in places like "Hell's Gate" - a cathedral of jagged rocks snarling like sharp teeth. These adventures were fun, but I most enjoyed adventures alone. Venturing into nature alone is a very healing experience, because you get a chance to really meet yourself. In my case, I would surrender to the journey entirely, and let it take me like a dandelion in the wind.
Another benefit of being alone was that I could listen to music. I used music to greatly enhance the journey by synthesising it with the environment I found myself in. The music composed by Jeremy Soule particularly resonated with me, and there's a distinct reason for this. Jeremy Soule composed the soundtracks for legendary video games such as Guild Wars 2, Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim. He designed the music with beautiful precision, sculpting soundtracks that enhance the living breathing experience of exploring the mystical worlds in said games. Queenstown has very similar landscapes to that of Skyrim, so I figured that if I listened to the same music, the soundscape and the landscape would harmoniously marry each other, and my experience would be heightened. My premonitions proved correct, and what would be merely a 'walk in nature' in my previous paradigm became a vision quest in my new paradigm.
I went to Queenstown seeking adventure, and that's precisely what I found. Yet, I turned out to discover so much more than I originally imagined. I was shocked by just how much wisdom is imbued in Nature, and how much I could learn about myself by venturing forth into the school of life alone. In general, I was finding a lot more peace, contentment, joy, and clarity with more trips into nature. So in this regard, it can be deeply healing for everybody. But if you are concerned with embodying your highest self and building a rich and meaningful life, there is no better inspiration than mother nature. You see how alive, how vibrant and abundant nature really is. It's so harmonious, so deeply wise. It's the 'nature' within us that we need to be cultivating, and we have a perfect role model waiting for us just outside the door. I was so heavily inspired by nature in Queenstown that I vowed to become as strong as the mountains, as abundant as the forests, and as calm as the lakes.
Nature is our true home. It can heal us, inspire us, and demonstrate our true harmonious rite to life. Embrace it whole-heartedly, and discover for yourself the wisdom that is nestled there.
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