Day 7 of my challenge is complete! I’m on a roll. 🙂
My favorite parts of it are the daily 20 min. walk outside and the reading.
My least favorite part is drinking a gallon of water per day! That’s just a lot of water for me. I don’t love drinking water, and if I’m not intentional about it I probably only would drink a couple glasses per day. I drink quite a bit of hot (black) tea throughout the day but plain WATER not so much. I’ve been successfully drinking the whole gallon and I think it’s getting easier, but it still feels like a lot!
THOUGHTS ON GETTING OUTSIDE:
Yesterday morning after I dropped the boys at the bus stop I went for a short walk at a nature preserve area by my house. It was seriously the most gorgeous morning- probably low 60’s, full sunshine, colored leaves. A quintessential fall day.
A few minutes in I stopped at the tree above, with the huge, sprawling branches along the water…it reminded me of the book The Giving Tree. That used to be one of my favorites when I was little, and my boys had it too. I wonder how many kids have climbed in that tree over the years. My own kids have climbed in it every time we visit this marsh as a family.
This time, being a quiet Wednesday morning, I didn’t see another soul while I was there, except the many geese, chipmunks, squirrels, birds, etc. that were frolicking around. There were some of those huge crane birds in the water which are always cool, too. It was a beautiful start to the day.
I’ve done various little “challenges”/ streaks over the years to remind myself to get outside everyday. It’s not that I don’t like going outside and need to be “forced”, it’s just easy to let it slip away when I’m busy. I need to be intentional about it or it doesn’t always magically happen.
Especially in the winter months!
I do find though that it’s pretty rare to find a day- EVEN in January in Wisconsin- that I literally cannot get outside for 10-20 minutes. It may involve planning ahead, and sometimes it involves an umbrella, or boots, winter hat and layers, but I always feel better after a little fresh air.
There’s just something about being outside, even on a “crappy” weather day, that boosts our moods and helps put problems in perspective, I think. When I walk, I oftentimes listen to a podcast, but if I need to clear my mind, I try to leave the earbuds out and just listen to the sounds of the world around me. On those day, I try to see if I can just NOT think. Kind of my version of meditation, while moving. 🙂
If you don’t regularly go outside for an intentional bit of time every day, I really encourage you to give it a try! I don’t mean like walking from your car into the grocery store. Just 10-20 minutes of time, set aside for you to get outside, breathe fresh air, feel the sunshine, or the breeze, and hear the birds chirping!
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”
-Henry Thoreau
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful for the sound of geese honking in the fall. This sound is so ingrained in my memory bank from childhood as the “sound of fall” here in Wisconsin, that just hearing it brings a wave of nostalgia over me. Since I love the fall season in general, hearing the geese and seeing them fly overhead in their amazing formations always brings me a sense of happiness.
GRATEFUL KAE 
I've spent more time outside this fall than I have in years, I think. When I was working downtown, I would take daily walks in the skyway. It was more convenient to do that because then I didn't have to deal w/ traffic lights and such. But now that I'm WFH, I typically take a 35-40 min walk after lunch while listening to a podcast. I am not as great at getting out in the winter, though. Especially when it's like -30F or colder with the windchill! When it's 0 or above, I consider that 'pretty nice' but that's kind of my limit. But I know if I made a goal to get outside every day, I would. That might be harder with an infant though so we'll see how this winter plays out!
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i love being outside!!! that's what motivates me to run 5-6 times a day, just to be outside, and if I don't run, I'll still go outside for a walk early morning when it's all quiet.there's no crappy weather for a run/walk. the first breeze when i step out of the building is the BEST!
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