Let’s Talk Lifestyle: Nature

Hey, y’all! One of my favorite things that I’m embarrassed about is that I love nature (I’ll explain my mortification in a second). So let’s dive right in; pull up a chair and let’s talk nature.

So I locked myself out of the crib yesterday

It was a pretty silly mistake. I went out back to do some drills with my agility ladder and next thing I knew I was trapped outside. Not exactly an ideal situation. Luckily, it all eventually got resolved.

Ironically, that has nothing to do with my embarrassment. While I was out there, just laying in the yard looking at a small piece of nature, I realized that I couldn’t remember the last time I voluntarily decided to go out into the environment by myself. And considering how much I love the outdoors, I felt some type of way. That’s why I was embarrassed.

Most of my time is spent inside

I thought a lot about how I spend my time and realized that most of it is spent indoors. I write code inside on office building, I workout at home or in a gym (besides cardio usually), I play video games, and I read. My hobbies like hiking and camping have been horribly neglected as of late. And I pondered how that’s been negatively impacting my life.

Spending time in nature has numerous benefits

Besides bugs and sunburn, spending time in nature provides us with many health and mental rewards. For example, sun exposure gives us much needed vitamin D, which helps with many biological processes (just make sure that you’re prepared for being shone on). In many cases, it can provide relief from pain, lower stress and anxiety, boost creativity, and much more. It’s an activity that definitely gives bang for your buck.

There have even been studies on grounding ourselves to the Earth. Just like with electrical wiring, we sometimes need a place to siphon off extra energy. So people have been undergoing the process of grounding or earthing, which is basically just walking around in nature barefoot. The main thing is that being out in nature helps us in so many ways, physically and mentally. But two things are the most important benefits, in my opinion.

It gives us a chance to recharge

Think of your body and mind like a Ferrari. I don’t know about y’all, but if I had a Ferrari, I probably wouldn’t put unleaded gas in it, never turn it off, and/or put a brick on the gas pedal. Those are definitely not good ways to treat a race car. It can perform extremely well and will do so if we take care of it. But only if we take care of it. Why is it that we’re willing to look after a car like that, but not ourselves?

In this analogy, food and sleep correspond to gas and turning the car off. But every once in awhile, even though a car is meant to drive, we’ve got to give it a break. And just like cars need breaks, we need breaks too.

We live in a world that constantly bombards us with stimuli. Not only is it just overwhelming in general, but it oftentimes prevents us from figuring out what we think, feel, or believe. And it’s just mad draining after a while. Which is why I think time in nature is important. It gives us time to reconnect with ourselves, disconnect from the world, and take a moment to just breathe. That’s something everybody needs; time to just be.

It puts us in perspective

If you’re anything like me, it can be easy to get lost in the day to day aspects of life. But I always find that spending time in nature, especially doing something active in nature, helps remind me of my place in the world. Whether standing in front of a crashing waterfall, in the middle of a forest, or at the top of a mountain, it reminds me that I am simultaneously infinitely important and minuscule in the grand scheme of things. And that’s ok.

It serves as a reminder that many of our problems are insignificant. That the argument you had over whose turn it is to take out the trash isn’t that important. Eventually, we will all die and return to nature, and the amount of money we were making, the house we had, and cars we drove won’t matter. But people will remember who we were. So it’s important to do what we can now to be the best people we can be. So be kind, caring, passionate, disciplined, and courageous. Be cheerful, strive to be happy. And I’m about to explain why I look so miserable in the picture above.

My last trip as a Boy Scout was to Philmont Scout Ranch

It’s one of three high adventure bases in North America. It’s located near Cimarron, NM, and was one of the best experiences of my life. The pic where I look like my dog died was taken on day four of the ten-day trip. I did NOT want to be there. The previous day we climbed up Urraca Mesa, which was over two and a half miles high on a 70% incline. To put it mildly, I would’ve killed to have gotten sent home.

The dude on the far right in the red’s name was Kevin. He was our guide for the first couple of days, to make sure we understood what to do and that we didn’t get mauled by a bear. So after our incredibly miserable day three, he wakes us up at like 4 a.m. and takes us up to a lookout point on the mesa.

At this point, I was ready to fight. We were tired, hungry, and couldn’t possibly understand why he had woken us up before the sun was even out. Until the sun rose. And when I tell you that was the most beautiful sunrise I have ever seen in my life, I mean it. And I don’t remember exactly what Kevin said after other than that he always takes his crews up there when he’s on the mesa. I couldn’t look away. The picture doesn’t do it justice. Nature is an experience that defies words. And I hope you’ll take some time to add some natural experiences to your self-care routine.

Thanks for talking humans with me today. Tell me about your experiences with nature. Drop a comment below with your answer. Don’t forget to subscribe and share. Catch y’all next week! Sayonara!!