By Anonymous
In the nature environment I spent my time at the Mason Pond. It was definitely chilly and cold, but it was really pretty seeing the pond in the winter time. I ended up sitting at a bench that faced the pond and looked at how the sunlight made the pond shimmer, especially on some of the cracks that it made. There were some birds squawking in the distance, which made me think they were in the nearby trees over where the little cottage was at that also faces the pond. I managed to capture a picture of the pond with the shimmering ice that is shown below.
In my normal type of environment, I would watch Youtube on my phone while sitting on the fluffy rug in my dorm room. Mainly I watched makeup tutorials and “panning” projects. The concept of panning is using up makeup or skincare and the pan portion is hitting the bottom of an makeup product that is in a compact or eyeshadow palette. It always keeps me motivated to finish what I have already in my collection instead of buying more, which also helps with my carbon imprint. On instagram, I would also scroll through makeup related content, as well as pages that foster kittens and dogs that come from local shelters.
From these two experiences, I learned that there are a lot of things in the media that can end up overwhelming and anxiety-inducing, but also it can sometimes cheer you up on a sad day. Being in the natural environment without being on my phone, except to take a picture of the pond, was very calming and chilly of course. Unplugging from the media was very nice to do since it was a stressful day and I would do it again once the weather warms up again.