Lovely sunflower,

I used to unconsciously feel and act like I was placed on this earth, disconnected from everything around me. Maybe you've done so at some point in your life too? After all, we live quite differently than the other animals around us. A deer walks around the forest all day, looking for tasty plants to dig into, runs away when they hear a noise and sleeps on the ground. Instead of searching for something to eat in the wilderness, we hop into our cars, drive to a grocery store and buy our food.

But is that bad though? After all, life is not only more comfortable for many humans today than how we used to live, but it’s also safer. Many of us don’t need to worry about dangerous animals or plants as much, we don’t have to starve and wonder if we’re able to survive the next day and we don’t need to physically strain ourselves to death. 

No, I definitely don’t want to live in those times. The downside of living a life completely different from what we used to is that we begin to feel disconnected from the world around us. We start saying something we have never said in human history: that we want to be independent.

I’m not a huge, muscular person. I was even born “too small” and that’s been my story ever since. Let’s face it, even if I was very fit I’d never be able to build camps and drag big animals all day to survive. I doubt I would even have time to gather wood to keep warm and cook food. My lack of survival skills is quite obvious.

Nowadays, I can hire someone to build whatever I want and buy a stove to heat my food instantly, as long as I can afford it. This creates a perception in our minds that we don't need anyone or anything. If we have the financial and mental capacity to take care of ourselves, we can. With that perspective, we forget everything we can't see though. We’re in fact dependent on more people and natural resources than we’ve ever been. What happens in one country politically or economically can drastically impact our daily lives.

Let’s say you eat an avocado every single day. One year, the avocado harvest didn’t go as expected in a country that provided the avocados you buy. Suddenly you couldn't buy avocados just because of something that happened on the other side of the world. And this was just an avocado, we probably have materials and foods from all over the world inside of our own home.

But that's not the only way we're dependent on the world around us. In fact, I’m even going to try to challenge your perspective of who you are (with a heavy emphasis on “try”).

Water makes up about 60% of the human body1. In my case, that water comes from a lake. Doesn’t that mean the lake is part of me? Humans breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide2. The plants use sunlight, water and carbon dioxide to create oxygen3. This means that we breathe with plants. The plants “inhale” the carbon dioxide that we breathe out. The plant then "exhales" oxygen that we breathe in. Life as we know it would cease to exist if all plants were wiped out. Does that make the plants part of us too? 

This one might sound a little creepy, but there are more bacteria inside of us than human cells4. We are literally outnumbered. The bacteria keep us alive by breaking down nutrients that we can then use. They also prevent diseases and attack toxic pathogens5. Many of them are our biggest allies and crucial for our survival. Doesn’t that make them a part of us too? 

If we zoom out, we’re also dependent on the sun. Being exposed to the sun enables us to get our need for vitamin D6. Since vitamin D deficiency can literally result in death, it’s an extremely important nutrient7.

All in all, you are never and can never be separated from the nature around you. And that’s okay. It’s meant to be that way. I believe that’s what gives life so much meaning, that we’re constantly dependent on the lives around us and that the lives around us are constantly dependent on us too. We’re part of everything and everything is part of us. It’s the illusion of being separated that causes us pain. Maybe being independent isn't what we should strive for. Maybe we just need to realize how included we are.