Maybe You Should Go Sit Under a Tree…

is what a poet told my class on my first day of CRWR 210: Introduction to Creative Writing. She was a second-year graduate student at the time, working towards her Masters of Fine Arts degree, and teaching an undergraduate intro course. It was syllabus day, and my classmates and I were pleasantly surprised to see her attendance policy was quite lax. In fact, she didn’t care about tracking attendance at all. She said something along the lines of, “We all have bad days. Maybe you should go sit under a tree. That’s perfectly fine!” We giggled at that. It seemed silly, to skip class and just sit under a tree. How was sitting under a tree better than going to class, which we had all paid to be able to attend?

In fact, “sitting under a tree” became an inside joke between my friends and I. If someone was missing or running late, you would just shrug and say, “Maybe they’re sitting under a tree.” I just couldn’t understand why my poetry professor would want me to go sit under a tree rather than come to class.

Then I had a bad day. I was outside on the grass, having plopped my bag down after my philosophy class, grabbed my phone, called my boyfriend, closed my eyes, and laid down on the ground. I was on the verge of crying and he said, “What if you skipped Intro today?” To turn my pain into a joke, I responded, “Should I go sit under a tree?” I opened my eyes, and let out a real laugh. I was indeed laying under a tree. I said goodbye to my boyfriend, hung up, and emailed my professor:

Hi (Professor’s name),

I’m emailing to let you know I won’t be in class today. I’m taking the time to sit under a tree. I’ll be in class on Thursday.

Best,

Daisy

I didn’t get up for the two and a half hours I would’ve been in class. I even wrote poetry. Not the whole time. I laid there, sat up, people-watched, bug-watched. Ate a snack. And I felt better. And my professor was more than fine with it.

The internet loves to use the term, “touch grass,” to tell someone they have been online too long and need to reconnect with the real world and get outside. Connect with nature. It’s even turned into a common hate comment. But I think we do need to touch grass, literally. Feeling nature under our fingers, realizing that we are not (usually) doing something that is life or death. It can wait. (If you’re a first responder, your job is important. But so are you. Find a moment to touch grass with the rest of us who don’t have important jobs.)

In a world of AI, social media, dating apps, online school, and computer desk jobs, more of us should be sitting under trees and touching grass. Sit outside on your lunch break. Leave the building on your ten-minute break. Put earbuds in your ears but don’t play music. Let yourself think. Let yourself feel January’s breeze and August’s blistering rays. It’s good for you. It’s good for your community for you to feel better. One May, my professor had poetry class outside on the grass. I wanted to get my notebook out and scribble a few lines about how most of my classmates were twisting grass between our fingers. My friend was making a daisy chain out of dandelions. We had a very productive workshop conversation.

I forget, and I know you do too, to take breaks or go outside (or do both together, preferably). Remembering that breaks, nature, and remembering what is important helps you be better at everything! Perfectionism kills progress, ambition, and soul. Nature heals all of that.

Go sit under a tree. Leave your laptop at work overnight. Listen to your local birds sing. People watch. Make a daisy chain. It’s all good for you.