Why I love the outdoors and a change of scene

People often say this to me: “Were you away adventuring again at the weekend?” Yes, yes I was and I intend to do so as much as possible. Heres why:

In our house week day life is pretty structured; we get up, go to work, go to the gym, cook dinner, sit down to watch TV at about 9pm then fall asleep to wake up and do it all over again. Conversations can become reduced to work, what shopping we need or how we’d fare on the TV Show SAS Who Dares Wins (not very well). I like my job, I like going to the gym and I like SAS Who Dares Wins but when I step out of this routine and into the outdoors lot’s of lovely and really useful things happen:

I really, really enjoy it

It sounds silly but I think a lot of people don’t indulge this enough. If there’s something you love doing do it whenever you can!

Getting perspective & realigning

For me this works on three levels:

1: Day to day

My job is fast paced, deadline driven and requires me to be really detailed so sometimes there’s not much room in my brain for anything else. When I’m away I don’t have to be that person, people aren’t demanding my attention, I don’t need to be anywhere, I don’t have to do anything, I can just be. It’s good to see who you really are when your obligations and responsibilities are striped away. I like the person I become when I’m away, I’m relaxed, I can think clearly and I’m happy, so I’m trying to bring a bit of that person into everyday life.

2: Bigger picture

We’ve been on a lot of little holidays this year and it's been amazing but it's made me realise I don’t want to live for weekends and holidays, why does all the good stuff have to be reserved for those short interludes? Why can’t we drive out to Loch Lomond to paddle board on a Tuesday night?! I want to try to bring a bit more moderation into my life and get that good stuff in whenever I can. For others it can provide bigger realisations around relationships, jobs and their health. Sometimes you can’t see what could be improved or whats making you unhappy until you step away.

3: Perspective

Does that hawk give a f**k I missed a deadline, no! Will that mountain go easy on me because I had an argument with my pal, no! I like that my problems are irrelevant to most other situations, people and things, it helps bring them down to size in my own mind. Here’s a big, but true, cliche; there’s a big wide world out there, it will continue to turn regardless and everyone has problems (granted of varying severity), isn’t that quite freeing?

Decision making

I’m horrible at making decisions, it’s the one thing I get really annoyed at myself about. I always want things (holidays, restaurant choices, purchases, gifts) to be perfect but in modern life there are sometimes too many choices and too much information available. This results in me doing endless research and going round and round unable to make a decision. I still debate with myself but then I step away and more often than not my brain will work it out on it’s own. Sometimes all your brain needs to make a decision or to come to a conclusion is a bit of space and a change of scenery.

Conversations & relationships change

There's something about the outdoors that opens people up, conversations become deeper and topics covered become wider. Maybe it's the feeling of a shared experience or maybe it's just being free from the usual responsibilities. The outdoors are a great leveller and being out there together you often find that bonds become strengthened.

I think there’s a big misconception that you have to travel for miles and spend a lot of money to have a change of scene and get some time in the outdoors. I haven’t found this to be true; hop on your bike, go for a walk, get on the train or better still a ferry! We have loads of really good days out for the price of a train ticket.

You might just get away from your usual routine and responsibilities for a few hours, you might enjoy the feeling of being in the moment, you might realise you actually want to be an astronaut or you might forge a new bond with a friend. Just get out there and see what some time in the outdoors can do for you!