Enhance Your Body, Mind and Spirit with the Great Outdoors

Do you remember how great it felt to race out the front door early in the morning with the promise of a day spent communing with friends and nature in the woods behind your house or at a local park? As a society we often extole the virtues of getting children outdoors and into the wilderness, but we fail to recognize the benefits for adults. Women, especially, can be quick to work longer hours in a chair, in front of a computer screen and indoors in general to get ahead, and then wonder why they feel penned in.

Plenty of research, such as those summarized by the Trust for Public Land, indicates the profound benefits to spirit, mind, and body that the great outdoors provides. Stress decreases, flexibility increases, Vitamin D levels increase, critical thinking skills increase, while anxiety and depression tend to decrease. With so many positive reasons to spend time outdoors, why are we still spending so many hours inside? However, if you require a plan or a purpose for your outdoors time, so be it. Here are seven ways and means to recharge your batteries in the great outdoors.

Take a Hike. Doesn’t work feel enough like a treadmill? Instead of heading to the gym to march to the hum of an endlessly rotating sidewalk of despair, take a hike in nature instead. Breathe fresh air. Enjoy a change of scenery. User-friendly apps and websites make it easy to locate a trail anywhere you happen to be.

Find the Beauty in Chaos. When your perfectly organized career and life make you feel more claustrophobic than a straight jacket on a July day, consider it a sign that it’s time to find the beauty in chaos. Venture into the wilderness to re-acquaint yourself with the beauty of the sounds from a bubbling brook, the promise in a jagged rock formation from which tiny plants spring forth, or the sweet smell of rotting autumn leaves. Know that in nature, common, chaotic elements join together to create something majestic; it could happen in your office too.

Play with your Dog Outside. Kick off your heels and run around the greenest space you can find chasing each other with wild abandon. Throw a ball, a stick or a Frisbee with your best friend. Contemplate where on Earth the phrase “working like a dog” really came from when you never really see your dog work. Curl up in the sunshine, exhausted, and take a quick nap.

Attend a Women’s Outdoor Education Workshop. Feel the power in learning a different variety of self-sufficiency. Build a primitive shelter. Lash furniture from vines and fallen limbs. Start a fire without a match or a lighter. Grow and learn simply for the sake of acquiring new skills, for the joy of saying that you did it, with no care for how the knowledge will advance your career. The DNR in many states offer classes specifically for women to enhance their proficiency in the wilderness.

Listen to the Rain. Rather than debate whether or not your son’s soccer game will still be played or if you will be soaked to the skin while attempting to reach the metro, listen to the rain pelting your windows or skampering across the skylight in your home office. Henry David Thoreau wrote in Walden, “Some of my pleasantest hours were during the long rain-storms in the spring or fall, which confined me to the house for the afternoon as well as the forenoon, soothed by their ceaseless roar and pelting; when an early twilight ushered in a long evening in which many thoughts had time to take root and unfold themselves.”  Better still, walk in the rain for the sheer pleasure of stomping through puddles or sloshing through mud. How many of your ideas would take root, if only you allowed them the unfettered space of an afternoon rainstorm?in learning a different variety of self-sufficiency. Build a primitive shelter. Lash furniture from vines and fallen limbs. Start a fire without a match or a lighter. Grow and learn simply for the sake of acquiring new skills, for the joy of saying that you did it, with no care for how the knowledge will advance your career. The DNR in many states offer classes specifically for women to enhance their proficiency in the wilderness.

Sleep Under the Stars. Dying to leave your smartphone behind and hide for a while. Do it! Go camping. Disconnect for a while and let yourself truly unwind. Wake up without an alarm to the sound of birds chirping and soft breezes blowing the side of your tent. If you have never camped before, you can test the waters without having to invest in expensive equipment. Many campgrounds offer camping cabins complete with picnic tables, charcoal grills and campfire bowls. Still other sites offer yurts or teepees already set up for you, thus requiring you to bring minimal supplies. Or rent a camper or RV (some sources will even deliver them to the campground of your choosing) for the weekend and enjoy nature with a few more creature comforts. Nothing resets your circadian rythmn like a soujourn in the woods.

Plant a Garden. Planting food or flowers requires work, yes, but they are a labor of love. Even city-dwellers short on convenient access to soil can find a tiny patch of dirt here and there. Pots of tomatoes, peppers or herbs will do well in tiny patio or balcony spaces. Large-spreading plants such as cucumbers or beans do better planted in a small parcel in a community garden. Dig in the dirt, chase a butterfly or two, and feed the plants that will ultimately feed you. You will nourish your soul as you nourish your wee flowers and vegetables.

Maybe you cannot afford the time away from your career to linger near Walden Pond for a year or more just to prove you can, as Thoreau did. However, you certainly can and should spend at least a few hours per month enjoying the wilderness, or the neighborhood park, or your own backyard. All work and no play makes Jane a dull girl, indeed!