Regenerative: able to or tending to regenerate—to regrow or be renewed or restored, especially after being damaged or lost. The act or process of regenerating is regeneration.
In the world of environmental sustainability, the starting point that the human race is still failing at is to sustain the status quo and prevent even further degradation than we have already caused. However, a potential problem with having sustainability as a target is to not set the bar high enough, we may not even consider the possibility of a regenerative future, one where we can “regrow or renew or restore”, “especially after being damaged or lost”.
For today, Christmas Day, I ask you to consider if you can have a regenerative holiday break rather than simply a sustainable (or even “degenerative” one)?
A starting point is to rest. In any ordinary year, many of us are exhausted from overwork by this time of year, so we need time to rest and relax. This is no ordinary year, so this need is even more paramount. However, though for the most extrovert amongst us all of the get together, parties (though yes, less in the covid era) and excess of food and drink are part of the season that they feel is good for their soul (if not the body), how many of us actively consider something beyond personal sustainability and reach for something regenerative?
Running in the snow
I think back to my late teens. I was in my first year of university and had become passionately addicted to what was a new sport for me, Basketball. I had somehow “made the cut” for the university squad but had not even come close yet to getting any regular court time, I had so much to learn.
As it came up to the Christmas holiday break though, I saw an opportunity. All of us on the squad were tired from both basketball training and academic work but also (hey, we were first-year students) lots of going out and partying during the term. We then had an end of term night out and most of the squad were talking about taking a break from training and doing lots and lots of partying when they went home for the holidays.
Hmm, I thought. What if I balance socialising with continuing to train throughout the holidays? Whilst the rest of the squad would come back less fit than before and perhaps with a few kg of excess weight from all that food and drink, I could come back much fitter than before by training consistently and at least watching a little what I ate and drank.
Luckily I found a like-minded spirit in a school friend from the Scottish Borders village I had gone back home to. Though there was lots of snow over the holidays, every afternoon we dressed for that and went for a hill run through the snow. What a workout it was each day!
Fast forward to the end of the four-week university break and the first training session for the Basketball team. I had boundless energy while the rest of the squad seemed listless. The coach saw this clearly and made the bold choice to put me in the starting five for the first game of the term. I played almost every minute of that match, helping carry a relatively unfit team. I never dropped out of the starting five from that point onwards.
I had chosen a regenerative Christmas holiday rather than a (cough) degenerative one.
Walking, walking and more walking
The photo above was from Christmas Day last year, 2020. It was cold and crisp and sunny, but I was the only person in the house who wanted to get out of my PJs and go for a walk. It was truly glorious, I walked across hills and woodland and fields, stopping to take the panorama shot above.
For the next two days, there was indeed lots of food and drink intake, with very little time outdoors, but then after that, I had arranged walks for every day between Christmas and New Year. The first one I took on my own. Having recently moved to a new area, I walked for well over four hours in a long loop, exploring and also choosing routes for the next few days. For the next three days, I then had different friends come down to go for a long walk, before my fifth day in a row of walking I again took off on my own for the longest walk of all.
Over five days I walked about 40km, so that was great for my physical fitness and wellbeing. I also had lots of 1:1 time with good friends (the rules at that time only allowed outdoor meetups and only 1:1, not groups), plus lots of time to think without distractions by the noise and screens of modern living.
In hindsight, the planning in advance for this goes way back to my winter of running in the snow for training and how good that felt.
That holiday period of 2020, then, felt regenerative, feelings of it being restorative, renewing, refreshing and more.
So, for 2021, as you can imagine, more of the same, and with balance. In my year (so far) in this area, I’ve also discovered some great country pubs, and as long as they are allowed to remain open, at least one or two of those long walks will include a pint by a fireplace in a pub!