It’s one of the pitfalls of writing an outdoor blog that is often centered on travel: you forget that the outdoors doesn’t have to be complicated. You forget that the outdoors wonderful because of its simplicity.
Isn’t that just what western cultures do best? We complicate things like it is our job. Even things that are inherently simple. Even the outdoors.
Do you need a road trip to get outside? Fancy equipment? A big budget?
Newsflash: all that is required for getting outside is, well, going outside.
And thus we have the #BackyardOutside challenge.
When I started Humans Outside I wanted to do a few things. I wanted to get myself outside with my family more by having a place to write about our adventures. I wanted to give myself a way to explore the outdoors and be inspired. And I wanted to pass that on to you.
But then it started to get complicated — because I let it. I started thinking about getting outside in terms of places I had to go, things I have to see, adventures I have to have.
And I forgot that it’s so much easier than that. I forgot that getting outside is literally simple as opening my backdoor and taking a deep breath.
I’ve told you before about how much I enjoy time management. Knowing how to get outside in my own background is an issue of using my time the best way possible while still living an outdoor lifestyle.
And so for the next two weeks we’ll be talking about getting outside without making it complicated, without driving an hour, without tons of planing. We are going to look at the art of having adventures in our own proverbial backyard.
Here’s the challenge we’re giving ourselves: Over the next two weeks we are going to do our best to get outside in a meaningful way at least six times.
Why six? That’s three times each week between today, March 11 and March 25. If you get outside six times in two weeks already, more power to you. But we don’t. Sure, we always make time to get outside on the weekends, but adding in a mid-week requirement to our already very busy lives means we really need to be careful with our time and get outside in the simple but meaningful ways.
And we want you to join us for this challenge. Share your backyard outside adventures — even if they are as simple as taking a walk in your neighborhood — with us on our Humans Outside Instagram page and in the comments below. Tag your adventures #backyardoutside so we can see them!
