As people living in the modern age, it can be difficult to ‘disconnect.’ If it’s not the general sounds of a built-up environment, it’s the television, radio, phone alerts or cars that bring you straight back into the nuisance headspace. Sometimes you just need to evade all of this. Sometimes you just need to get out more in nature.
However, it can be difficult to schedule this. Most of the time our schedules are fluid and adhere, outside of work, to a ‘whatever I want to do’ form of planning. After a busy shift, or in the morning rush after squeezing the ‘snooze’ function on your alarm too much, you might find that going for a walk in a natural environment is just not something you feel like applying much effort to.
Luckily, this needn’t be the case. With the following tips, you can naturally begin to get out in nature more, as a consequence of following another path. Two birds, one stone. How useful!
Cycling
Cycling is one of the best ways to get in nature, and it means you can access your local park quickly and efficiently, saving you time out of your schedule. It also gives you a relaxing and custom experience, because you can either ride quickly down the natural paths, ride slowly and enjoy the scenery, or with a more intense off-roading bike, explore the local terrain and hills in a way that gives you a fun feel for the land you wouldn’t experience if just walking. If you have two bikes, one for city and path cycling and one for off-roading, it’s beneficial to get multi-bike insurance to save money on both, making your new natural escapades cheap in their nature. Not only that, but this allows you to exercise in arguably one of the best ways possible. Cyclists burn off the most calories and are the most cardiovascularly fit out of all the land sports, and off roading can add to this. Not only will this help you in a myriad of beneficial ways, but it will give you the tools necessary to enjoy exercise once more, just like you should do.
Podcasts
Podcasts are the best way to get some form of creative and educational use out of your walking time, and taking the steps necessary to walk in nature while you do so can help imbue you with the benefits of getting in nature. If you also decide to walk to work through the park, you can glean some form of creative and up-to-date insight in the world around you, while you also disconnect from the very annoyances that make living in the human hive difficult to experience.
Backpacking
Backpacking across the country while traveling is one of the most enjoyable ways to experience your local area. This is of course more of an event and travel focused way to get into nature, but it serves even more effectively to help you disconnect from the insanity of daily social life. What’s more is that you needn’t invest too much money to enjoy your backpacking adventure, heading from european city to european city in search of that perfect photo opportunity.
You can simply enjoy the wealth of your local environment, staying in hostels or hotels you would never have done otherwise, seeing areas that you have neglected up until now. There’s never a better way to get that sense of space than there is when backpacking across rural environments. This can also serve to keep you fit and healthy, which you’ve probably noticed any attempt to stay in nature does.
Craft Your Garden
You needn’t head to the local park to make the most of your natural environment. Sometimes, getting out in your back garden is enough to help you therapeutically enjoy your environment once more. There is nothing much more exciting than seeing your garden grow, because it takes effort to craft a nice one, but the act of doing it is so intrinsically enjoyable that hours will pass, making your thumb only greener as time drips on. Gardening has had proven and beneficial impacts on mental and physical health, and it’s no wonder. Make the most of the weather predicted this summer by gardening, and you’ll be sure to unwind properly.
These enjoyable hobbies that can serve to help you get in nature will allow you to overcome the mental ‘scheduling conflicts’ that occur when you’re simply too tired to stick to an outdoor schedule. As time wears on, you will find yourself returning to these hobbies, and as such entering and experiencing nature in new and more frequent ways.
What could be better?
