Healing Ourselves by Healing the Earth: Becoming Stewards

What if many of the mental health symptoms we experience today are not signs of personal dysfunction—but signs that our bodies are trying to adapt to a world out of alignment?

Our anxiety, depression, dissociation, and restlessness might not always be illnesses in the way we’ve been taught to see them. They might be the body remembering something we’ve collectively forgotten: we were never meant to live like this.

As human beings, we evolved in harmony with the earth. We were meant to move with the rhythms of the sun and moon, to track the seasons, to forage and harvest, to prepare for winter and rest in darkness. We were designed to be attuned to the wind, the soil, the cycles of life. That way of living wasn’t just poetic—it was regulatory. It kept our nervous systems balanced, our communities connected, our spirits nourished.

But in modern life, we’ve become increasingly disconnected—from the earth, from our bodies, from each other. We’re surrounded by artificial light, constant stimulation, pressure to produce, and a culture of accumulation. More things, more plastic, more hoarding, more disconnection. And in that disconnection, something essential has been lost.

The planet has suffered, and so have we.

Our bodies, in their wisdom, respond. The rise in mental health struggles can be seen as a reflection of our collective misalignment. The nervous system, so attuned to rhythm and regulation, is overwhelmed. But this is not a personal failing—it’s a message. A call. A remembering.

That’s where healing begins—not just through individual self-care, but through re-connection.

Environmental stewardship is part of our own holistic healing. It is the understanding that who we are—including our mental health—is deeply, intricately connected to the earth. When we protect, conserve, steward, repair, and heal the planet, we also heal something within ourselves. Because we are not separate.

We are interconnected.

There was a time when humans forgot this. We became obsessed with more: more plastic, more things, more hoarding, more extraction. And as we lost sight of our connection to nature, we also lost touch with ourselves. Our generous and abundant planet suffered—and so did our inner worlds.

Learning about the environment, and how to nurture and repair it, becomes a pathway back to ourselves. It grounds us from the core. It restores a sense of belonging and purpose.

This is true holistic healing.

Protecting our earth, our siblings on this earth, the animals, the waters, the skies—this is deeply grounding inner work. It is not separate from our healing journey; it is the healing journey.

Stewardship doesn’t have to mean grand gestures. It can mean noticing. Tending. Choosing with care. Picking up litter on your walk. Supporting local farms. Learning the names of native plants. Refusing single-use plastic when you can. Rewilding a forgotten corner of your yard. Talking to a child about the sacredness of water. Not killing a little bug in your home. Volunteering to repair the shoreline if you live by bodies of water. Learning what the natural environment of your town is.

These are not small acts. These are acts of alignment. They remind our bodies that we’re no longer ignoring the earth’s pain—or our own. They restore our sense of purpose, rooted in care and reciprocity.

When we tend to the earth, we tend to something ancient and alive within ourselves. We begin to repair the threads that were never meant to be cut. We remember that healing isn’t a solo journey. It’s a return to relationship—with land, with life, with each other.

We are not separate. We never were.

Join me with this Commitment Statement:

I commit to remembering that I am not separate from the earth. I honor my body’s wisdom, even when it speaks through struggle. I choose to walk gently, to tend what I can, and to reconnect with the rhythms that sustain life—within and around me.

If you would like to spend more time thinking about this, engage with this Reflection Prompt:

What does “living in rhythm” mean to you—and what rhythms of the natural world feel most soothing or familiar to your body? How might you begin to listen for them again?

In the comments below, let me know one small step you can take to be a steward for the earth and by doing so, healing yourself a little at a time.

Dre Valenzuela