February Field Guide: Nature Always Finds a Way, And So Can We

It’s February, and the world still feels like it’s teetering on the edge of huge transitions—so much uncertainty and heaviness. And yet, I step outside and notice the snowdrops pushing up through the leaves, hellebores opening their blooms, and my favorite nuthatch birds creeping down our tree trunks.

Nature always finds a way. And so do we.

This month, let’s make a promise to ourselves to slow down, observe, and take comfort in how life persists, even in the most unlikely of places. When the world feels uncertain, when the weight of things feels too heavy, when it seems like too much has been lost—look closer. Life is still here. Hope is still here.

The plants are budding. The birds are singing. In the same way, nature regenerates, adapts, and finds a way forward, we too hold within us the capacity for resilience, creativity, and restoration.

So, let this be your guide for the month—a syllabus for centering ourselves, for reconnecting, for remembering that creativity, like nature, is never truly dormant.

What to Look for This Month

Signs of Life: Snowdrops, Hellebore and Nuthatch

You may have to look closely, but snowdrops are some of the first flowers to bloom even when the ground is still cold and hard. They push through despite the odds. Their adorable white petals look like little lanterns, a much-needed reminder that beauty is everywhere.

Find them in shaded woodland edges, tucked beneath trees, or even in forgotten corners of gardens. They remind us that even in frozen ground, life exists.

Take this lesson with you this month from the Snowdrop:

Your creativity doesn’t have to be loud or fully formed to be valid. Even the tiniest spark—an idea, a doodle, a half-formed sentence—is proof of life. Keep going.

Then there’s Hellebore, another early bloomer that I get so excited to see arrive. They thrive in the cold. Their roots go deep, anchoring them through the storms, allowing them to bloom when other plants wouldn’t dare. I had to unfortunately relocate my hellebores two times over the last year, making me quite anxious that they wouldn’t survive the winter. Yet, there they were just this past week, blooming despite it all.

Find them in gardens, shaded areas, along the edges of pathways. They’re such a grounded friend, reminding us that we too can be both strong and soft at once.

Lesson to take with you this month from the Hellebore:

Resilience isn’t about pushing through at all costs—it’s about being deeply rooted, knowing your place, and blooming in your own time.

If you spend time watching trees this month, you might see one of my absolute favorite visitors, the nuthatch, a small bird known for its ability to climb headfirst down tree trunks. It does not see gravity as an obstacle. It adapts, moves differently, and finds another way.

Find them near oak, beech, or pine trees, hopping down trunks and branches with their distinct chatter. They are lively, persistent, and full of personality!

Lesson to take with you this month from the Nuthatch:

When things feel stuck, ask yourself: Is there another way? Maybe the usual route isn’t working. Maybe you’re meant to climb down the tree instead of up. Maybe trying something unconventional—something that defies expectation—is the very thing that will carry you forward.

Garden Lessons for Creatives

The way we show up for ourselves, each other, and the world is what matters. Here are some things we can focus on this month, both in the garden and within our creative lives.

🌱 Sow Seeds for Cold-Hardy Plants
Just because it’s winter doesn’t mean you can’t plant. Things like peas, lettuce, potatoes, and other hardy plants can be sown now for early spring harvests.

Apply this to your creative life: What seeds can you plant now that will take root in the months ahead? A new project? A quiet ritual? A mindset shift?

🪴 Plan Your Garden
February is for imagining what’s possible. Sketch out your garden beds. Research companion planting. Dream about what you want to grow this year.

Apply this to your creative life: What do you want to cultivate in your business or creative practice this year? Sketch it out. Plan it with intention.

🌻 Get to Know Your Local Flora & Fauna
Take time to notice what is alive around you—what birds are returning, what native plants are budding. Build a relationship with your local environment.

Apply this to your creative life: Slow down and observe. What is your creative practice asking of you? Where is there new life stirring in your ideas, even if you can’t quite see it yet?

The world wants you to consume—news, content, endless updates. But what if, instead of absorbing everything, you focused on observing?

What’s changing around you? What’s growing despite the cold? What’s asking to be tended within yourself?

Where in my life can I slow down and trust that things are unfolding as they should?

Write one sentence every day about something alive around you. It could be a bird you noticed, the color of the sky, a bud on a tree, or a feeling of warmth in your chest.

Train yourself to notice life, and life will meet you there.

Because nature always finds a way. And so do we.

This is your permission slip to take your time. To move differently. To plant something now that will bloom later. To trust that life, even in its hardest seasons, is still unfolding.

And above all, we take care of each other—just as nature does.

Until next time…

Natalie Brite - DoGoodBiz Studio