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called on to stay apart. Yet even as we must distance ourselves from one another to protect public health, nature remains one place where we can find a feeling of reconnection. We're all feeling anxious. Sad. Bored. Scared. Overwhelmed. We're doing what we need to do to allow as many of us as possible to survive. That we've been thrust so suddenly into a time where we have to make such a concerted effort for our survival and that of others is pretty nuts to begin with, but here we are. Attempting survival by waiting inside our homes for all of this to be over. But really, go outside. Get away from the computer, the phone, the television, the bed, the couch, the walls. Because what else can we do? In between keeping our own lives going, our own kids fed and their fears abated—while our own still are not—what else can we do? We need outside, the anti-quarantine to our pent-up, sequestered spring lives. Nature's sublime has always been, for many people, a solace. Cutting-edge science has confirmed that time in natural areas helps us cope with stress and lowers anxiety. And who couldn't use a dose of calm right now, when the most virulent contagion seems to be fear? You don't have to go to some far- off national park to get the proven health benefits of nature. Most of us find our most intimate relationships with the more-than-human in nearby nature—some path through suburban woods, the city-side beachscape, the garden full of birds. At a time like this, such places can reground us. They provide perspective: a reminder of different time scales, proof of resilience and recovery. In natural areas, we also get a good measure of space, a feeling of the world as big and wide. During the massive Western wildfires of recent summers, the choking smoke and darkened skies forced millions of people indoors and left many of us feeling like digital shut-ins. Above all, this crisis is characterized by an even more intense feeling of claustrophobia (at least for those of us who aren't grappling with layoffs or illness). Evacuate? Where would you go? Suddenly, there is no away. Maybe our misery is compounded by the things our isolation brings up. Down our daily distractions, we're forced to think about the unpretty feelings we've tried to avoid. Our own shortcomings, the doomed relationships, the people we miss, our amplified anxiety —it's all quarantined inside, right there with us. Our only escape is in the hearts and Happy Birthday messages written in chalk on driveways. The painted rocks placed in yards. The teddy bears perched in windows. The 8 o'clock howl. The evidence that we're all in this together, even if we're not together. But even in a viral pandemic, what nature In natural areas, we also get a good measure of space, a feeling of the world as big and wide.