MY LIFE lessons
Walking through the pain of grief has been therapy for Michaela Strachan. Here, the presenter, 57, tells us what she learnt along the way
Nature is a source of comfort
I find a lot of my answers through Mother Nature and through walking. We live a very complex, confusing life and I think the simplicity of putting one foot in front of the other is incredibly cathartic. It’s my meditation and it’s simple. To be with your own thoughts and try and declutter… I love it so much. And being in nature reminds you that humans are merely a single species within a much wider frame. I do a lot of hiking. I often climb Table Mountain in Cape Cod, now that I live in South Africa.
Survivor’s guilt is a waste of time
My best friend’s funeral came just days before I started filming Pilgrimage [the BBC2 series following celebrities from different faiths trekking together]. To take two weeks out of my life and process that awful time through walking and talking was extremely helpful. It was very emotional and challenging at the time, but the best thing for me. My best friend was the last of quite a few people I lost last year. She had breast cancer – the same diagnosis I had. She was diagnosed two years after me and we walked the journey together but now I’m here and she’s not. I don’t have survivor’s guilt though. I just wish she’d lived. I wish that she’d been as lucky as me. I wish she was still here.
