Journalist Julia Baird uses the phenomenon of Phosphorescence as a metaphor for how to find light in our lives at dark periods

Seeing her limbs sparkling underwater and experiencing a luminescent glowing emanating from the ocean for the first time set off an obsession with the phenomenon for journalist Julia Baird. “The first time I saw phosphorescence was when I was a teenager. We used to drive up the coast and go camping late at night and would just jump into the ocean as soon as we got there,” she says. “We would notice our limbs would sparkle and there would be these ribbons of silver following us as we swam along the beach. It was really beautiful and really magical.” In the nearly two decades since, Baird had not seen it again, but thought of the luminous glow captured her imagination as a metaphor to represent the things that can help us see the light when the world around us goes dark. Working as a journalist for the past two decades both in Australia and overseas, Baird previously held the position of deputy editor at Newsweek in New York City and now hosts The Drum on ABC. In 2016 she published a biography of Queen Victoria which received critical acclaim. It was named as one of the best books of the year by The New York Times. But, it was around this time she was facing a dark time in her personal life- going through a relationship breakdown while also being diagnosed with cancer. While it was a difficult period, it was after coming out of it that she began thinking about the things that actually helped sustain her. “I thought about things I thought would make me feel better at the time and didn’t… but there were other things that restored me in a way I hadn’t anticipated ,” she says. “The more I dug into it, I realised there was science behind it.” In her latest work of non- fiction, titled Phosphorescence, she delves into methods that can help sustain us at dark periods. One such coping mechanism is the concept of biophilia- which says that humans possess an innate tendency to seek connections with nature. “The more we starve ourselves in urban environment’s, the more people are saying the more we expose ourselves to green, the more people are happier and become less depressed and better off physically and mentally. I really wanted to write down the things like this that have brought me joy and to pass it on.” While various wellness trends have taken off in recent years, Baird said we could sometimes become obsessed with the idea of happiness and ignore human suffering- especially if it is our own. “There are a lot of really great things about the wellness trend, but if you only do that you can end up in a burrow of self-scrutiny. “Often people are very well off and in a very good spot when they ask about happiness and are vaguely dis-satisfied and want to feel a little bit better, but what do you do you do when the rubber really hits the road and it’s not really about rising and shining, it is about actually functioning and getting through it?” While the timing of her book seems to have come at the perfect time when the whole world has been going through a collectively dark and uncertain period, Baird said it was pure coincidence- but that she hoped it could help comfort people who were struggling. “It wasn’t like I sat down one day and thought oh there is a gap in the market and there is a glooming global disaster up ahead,” she jokes. “I really meant it as something for people who were looking for something for themselves when their world was going dark or for people who were interested in those things. “I didn’t expect the world the go dark...that was way beyond my crystal ball abilities.” During the writing of the book, Baird became obsessed with chasing down phosphorescence again- travelling to Tasmania to track it down. Although she was unsuccessful, the day after she returned home, she heard of a beach near her home that had been glowing the previous few mornings. “It is so beautiful and really hard to predict so you have to be on high alert if it happens.” “The next morning I got back and it was pitch black but I saw it. Within a couple of strokes I could see that every movement looked like a handful of sequins scattering in front of me.” While each person finds comfort in different things, Baird said the ocean was the place that constantly filled her with both a sense of peace and wonder. “It is very much my happy place. It’s the ritual of going down each morning, going into the water and instantly seeing beauty… your day begins within astonishing sunrises or seeing creatures under the water and it takes you out of yourself. “You leave behind your dramas, fears and anxieties behind.” Phosphorescence is out now.