Life in nature, said Thomas Hobbes, is nasty, brutish and short. So is life for many infected by covid-19, the death toll from which is now 114,000.

And yet nature can offer refuge, if people seek its best use.

Pennsylvania has eased up on social-distancing restrictions. For many people, the wait was agonizing. They struggled to find peace, contentment. They may struggle again, if we face a covid-19 resurgence and another round of restrictions.

My lesson-learned from the last few weeks: Rediscover what nature can offer. Get outside, walk in the woods, find a creek. We found one in Wolf Creek Township, in Mercer County.

The creek was a place of respite for me and my kids, especially the three youngest. One is 5 years old and the others are 9 and 10, just a few months apart. Yes, my wife and I have two born only a few months apart — unusual even for a couple of natural-family-planning Catholics. That’s because the 10-year-old is adopted. In fact, two of those three are adopted — given the gift of life by a single mom who couldn’t raise them. And we, all of us spiritual children, are given the gift of God’s creation.

To observe three kids cutting loose in a creek is a joyful experience. Away from TVs, phones, video games, they have way more fun wading in water than surfing the web. In fact, surfing is a choice word: They actually try to surf in the creek. They do all sorts of crazy things — jump, flip, skip rocks, slop mud, dunk, soak, even in temperatures barely above 70. They have a blast.

So can you.

I encountered way too many adults during the social restrictions of this pandemic who seemed unable to find consolation. They spoke of current life as nasty and brutish, even as the period in which we were asked to sacrifice was actually quite short.

But their lack of peace was worse than that. Daily I received emails from frustrated friends comparing pandemic-restricted life in Western Pennsylvania to life under the Soviets and Nazis. Many are dear friends I respect, and who should know better — who never have been naïve to how bad life was behind the Iron Curtain. Needless to say, what we were asked to do had no resemblance whatsoever to East Germans behind the Berlin Wall. Life in Pennsylvania counties was not comparable to the Gulag Archipelago.

When I lecture on the stretch of life in America from World War I and the Spanish flu through the Great Depression and World War II, I always tell my students I fear our modern culture could never endure the sacrifice and hardships of another world war or depression or plague. I’m now absolutely convinced of that.

Sure, I totally understand the anxieties. People lost jobs, and parts of the economy certainly were ready to be reopened. I personally lost a lot of money — retirement account, investments, numerous canceled speaking engagements. Next year will be year five of a roughly 24-year-run of my wife and I having at least two kids in college simultaneously. We all lost money. Some worse than others.

But I urge, especially if we face another period of restrictions: Find contentment. Find peace. There’s literally a beautiful world out there. Life in nature need not be nasty, brutish and short.

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