This is Berknow.

Sheridan Alfred helps organize Black Birders week,

which celebrates Black people who love birds with a week of interactive events.

And she's passionate about the mental health benefits of birding.

As a community, we deal with a lot of trauma.

Trauma that you didn't even ask for, but it's there regardless.

And so I think knowing that there's a place that you can go,

knowing that you can step outside, step out the door,

my recommendation is always outside.

If you need something to distract you, it has that.

If you need something to kind of just have peace and be still, it has that.

While you can approach the outdoors anyway that makes sense to you,

Sheridan says that sitting and journaling about what you observe can help you feel grounded.

And you sit in one spot and you have a journal,

and you just sit there for like 30 minutes.

You can write, you can draw, you can not write anything if you don't want to.

Having a deeper awareness of the birds living around you can help you to tap into their resilience in a changing world.

First of all, dig the birds outside your window, outside your workplace, whatever.

And just notice how they're like, they're always there.

The resilience is usually something that I kind of lead with.

I'm just, I'm a big component of taking advantage of the world around you.

Learn how you can participate in this year's Black Birders Week on our website, birdnote.org.

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