The festive season can be a great time to get together with family and friends, and to celebrate with good food and good company. For sure, it can feel cathartic to say goodbye to the old year and welcome the next.

But for so many of us, this can also be a season of difficulty and stress. If we are on our own, it can be the loneliest time of year. And if we're not, being around people isn't automatically a recipe for joy.

Throughout 2023, Koala Eco has talked to lots of people about what nature means to them. Time and again, they’ve mentioned how being in nature heals and grounds them, and even when time-poor or living in the middle of a city, they find ways of connecting to nature. This holiday season, we thought we’d share some of what they suggested, in case it offers inspiration for easing some of the difficult moments.

Our interactions with nature can build into one of the most nurturing and enduring relationships of our lives. As we head towards 2024, wherever you are, whomever you’re with, all of us at Koala Eco wish you well. And we hope you’re able to connect with nature in some healing way, every day of the season ahead.

“It's hard to explain the connection when it feels so intrinsic. I am deeply impacted by the energy of nature that surrounds us – from the positive ions in the ground to the feeling of salty air on my skin... nature is grounding. A constant source of recalibration.”


— ELEANOR PENDLETON

“The ocean I find so humbling in its power and sheer scale, and consistent in its rhythm. I find it so grounding to be around, no matter what season, through pandemics and geopolitics and everything else that human beings cook up in the world, it continues to do its thing day in and day out.”

— ANNA WHITEMAN

“Make time at dusk or dawn to experience the transition of light as we enter or leave the shadow of the day. Take it all in with an awareness that we are hurting through space, spinning around the sun, in one of many infinite universes. It will only take a minute.”

— DESMOND SWEENEY