Alert

I am awake, but I am tired; I close my eyes but not my mind; I live for now yet have lived for years; I eat to stay alive and alive I am.
That's true for most wildlife - a bird, a tortoise, an elephant and an impala. Right across the board. What sometimes we humans perceive as challenges in our lives, they live with each day and night. We have come a long way, ourselves, in our evolution, since the times when we survived like that. Lucky us...
Our 'normal' lives are now so complicated by all the improvements, modernizations, progress and so on, that these basic tenets of life are forgotten by most of us in our day to day trappings. Are we that lucky?
I am privileged (not the only one by any means) to be able to work most of my days in the field, the bush, the veld, Nature surrounds me, I learn from, feel, see and hear it. Most of the time when I am 'out there' I recall times on each safari when I think of the lifestyle I or friends of mine have or have had in the towns, cities where we live. I cannot and will not put it all down..that's silly. But I know that we overdo it..even those of us who slow it all down to savour the nature, or peace and quiet we can find near us in the civilized world.
I like to be amongst the animals and nature, to share some of their sanctuary as well as their concerns. Somehow, when I have my tent and my bed to sleep in, when I have some food in me and some to look forward to tomorrow, I am happy knowing that around me life is as complicated as our bustling cities, yet is lived without our shortcomings. From that alone I can gain some peace.