Even When Mother Nature Turns on the Black and White Filter, Get the F Outside

ESPECIALLY then

Even though it is our reality almost every single day, we Brits are truly awful at planning for bad weather.

Take me this weekend. I headed out to Loch Lomond in the Scottish Highlands in a pair of woolen trainers, a hoodie, and a hastily packed umbrella. Raincoat? Walking boots? Nah, I’d left them back at home in Wales. Didn’t think I’d need them even though I was visiting Scotland.

Dumbass.

Despite my stupidity, I truly had the best time outside today. Even though most of the day looked like this:

No, that’s not a black-and-white filter, it really was that grey.

It was cold. It was wet. It was windy. It was wild.

It was freaking glorious.

And it made me kick myself for not spending enough time outside recently.

***

We — and by we I mean those of us living in the UK / US / CA — are truly hermitic in our habits. The average time we spend outside has reduced to an embarrassing 7%.

So distracted are we in working, watching TV, playing video games, and spending time in those homes we spent so much money on, that we run the risk of forgetting anything else exists.

It doesn’t help if you live somewhere where the idea of a walk is down the local stroad to the nearest Trader Joe’s thus sounds like death.

And it certainly doesn’t help if you’re British because that means you didn’t get the memo that we live on a rain-sodden island. Unlike the Nordics, we don’t believe we can enjoy spending time outside unless it’s 20+ degrees and sunny.

Which means we almost never go outside except our three days of summer. If we do — like me this weekend — we’re woefully unprepared.

I think all of us who prioritize living inside rather than out — for whatever reason— are missing a trick.

For a start, spending time outside is ridiculously good for you.

Science has proved it does all things self-improvement bros will charge you a lot of money to hack. It reduces anxiety, and boosts self-esteem, immunity, creativity, and focus.

Tony Robbins charges a lot to teach you that shit. But Mother Nature does it better.

It’s also cheap. Aside from the odd piece of waterproof clothing or a decent pair of walking shoes, it doesn’t cost much to stand outside your front door and move your pegs until you’ve hit your 10,000 steps.

Even better, you don’t have to wait until you visit somewhere inspiring to walk because your brain doesn’t care. Which is good because not everyone has the likes of Loch Lomond on their doorstep.

I’ve written before about the virtues of walking the same boring-ass route around your neighborhood — the monotony can allow your mind to roam freely. I planned my wine store during hundreds of loops around my hometown.

It all sounds almost too good to be true. Perhaps that’s why we don’t do it — because we don’t believe it will work.

But it does.

***

It seems that some people are getting the memo. Despite it feeling like I was standing under a running faucet for two hours, I was not the only one on the West Highland Way this weekend. Soggy bodies passed by every few minutes, each with a jolly hello. Everyone seemed to enjoy the perverse pleasure that comes from being out in the elements, even when those elements hate you.

It was, dare I say it, fun.

So I’ll be doing it more. Because fun + good for you = my kind of activity.

Even if your surroundings don’t look like something out of Braveheart, walk a little bit today. And a bit more than that tomorrow.

And watch those creative, interesting, innovative thoughts flow out of you like no YouTube course could ever aspire to.