I was lucky enough to go with a friend to a sunflower maze recently. It was a dull cool day but the bright yellow of the sunflowers certainly helped to cheer the day up.
We were allowed to pick the sunflowers as we walked around and through the maze – we had to pay for them of course. Thankfully the maze wasn’t too tall, so we could see over and it wasn’t too taxing. We had some fun wandering about and taking many photos of the sunflowers, some had bees on them, others were well past their best and had fulfilled their purpose. The size of some were incredible – almost the size of our face. I knew sunflowers could grow tall, but didn’t realise their flowery heads could be so big.
We picked a bunch each and enjoyed finding our way around and out of the maze. From their we were given a punnet to fill with Honeyberries. Neither my friend or I had heard of these so we were happy to see what we could find. We were given directions to find the field and off we trotted.
We arrived at the field filled with wonder as to what the heck we were picking. After going up and down several rows, we only had a couple of berries each. This wasn’t right and would take us hours at this rate to fill the punnets. So we went for a longer walk over to almost the far end of the field and we were met with an abundance of berries.
We went our own way and picked and picked, to be honest, they were so ripe, they were falling into our punnets. some of them burst and the inside of them were blood red, covering our hands. I actually thought I had cut myself it was so red.
Once we filled our punnet, off we went back to the car and headed home.
It occurred to me that although this was a very random fun day out. There were many aspects which were good for my own wellbeing. Such as:
Outdoors – regardless of the breeze and the cloudy sky and the occasional wee rain shower, being outside was energising. Breathing in the fresh countryside air and looking at the beautiful scenery, not just what was right in front of us, but what was out in the distance. It was breathtaking. How lucky we were to be there, rather than be stuck indoors for the day. Green fields stretched for miles and it was almost silence except for the whir of the wind turbine nearby or the wind making it’s way through the sunflowers.
Walking – you all know how much I love walking, and being outdoors surrounded by sunflowers whilst we wandered through the maze was great. Getting some exercise whilst doing something fun is a win win. We might not have been walking at pace or getting the heart rate going, but we were getting those steps in and moving, I can highly recommend walking through a field of sunflowers.
Sunflowers – these are happy, cheery, bright and lovely flowers. You can’t help but smile when you are around them. Even though the sky was cloudy these flowers stood out and welcomed you to their patch. We loved we could pick some and take home a bunch and a bit of sunshine. As we walked round there were so many bees happily going about their day and that made us smile even more.
Friendship – Being out and having fun with a friend is always a great way to spend the day, lots of fun, silly stories, plenty laughs and having a good time can only be good for your mental health.
Taking photos – I love a good photo of a fun day out. The memories they stir up and the laughs of the day come flooding back. The bright and cheeriness of the sunflowers will always make me smile. I will print these photos off and put them up at work so I have beautiful pictures to look at when things get a little crazy.
Honeyberries – I didn’t know what they were until then! Never heard of them. They are the colour of blueberries but are long instead of round. But they pack a punch and contain more potassium than a banana and more vitamin c than an orange and are high in antioxidants – what’s not to love. They taste delicious and will be great to use in a smoothie or on cereal.
As you can see, a random fun day out is easily attributed to many aspects of wellbeing. So whilst you may not be thinking about how to look after you as you go about your weekend activities, you are probably helping yourself more than you realise.
Have a lovely week and look after you.
Love Emma xx
Wellbeing with Relaxing Lavender 