Getting Out in Nature Makes Me a Better Person
Why are all of the FBGs discussing green fitness stuff this week? Because it’s Fit Bottomed Earth Week, silly!
Not to get all hippity-dippity on you again, but—okay, I’m going to get all airy-fairy on you. I love the outdoors! I love Mother Nature! I love the Earth! I am one with the universe!
Okay, now that that’s out of my system. Let’s get to the real point of this blog: how working out in the great wide open (go ahead and sing the Tom Petty song if you wish) makes me a nicer person. No, really, it does. Each year I start to get a bit antsy if I don’t see the mountains. Yes, I have plenty of natural beauty around me with flowers and big trees and fields and my garden, but there’s just something about the mountains that makes me feel all ahhh inside.
I think part of it is being reminded of how small—and yet how magnificent—we really are in the grand scope of things. Standing in the shadow of mountains makes me feel the power of nature, and climbing mountains helps to remind me of what I can do when I put my mind (and legs) to it. I love my job of writing and blogging and connecting with all of you daily, but there’s something simply magical about powering down all of the electronics, quieting all the problems in my head and just being.
Plus, I tend to embrace my inner hippie child when I’m in nature for more than an hour. I gleefully do yoga on rocks.
And stage ridiculous “photo shoots” with llama finger puppets.
And, yes, I think that both happy yoga and finger puppets make the world a better place. So, therefore, getting my green fitness on makes me a better person. When I’m refreshed and goofy and limber, my body feels better, my mind is alert and refreshed, my inner child is ready to play and I just feel more like me.
I haven’t been out to the mountains for almost a year now…guess who’s planning a summer trip?! And tell me, are you the same way? Do you love to get outdoors and love you some Mother Earth, too? It certainly makes for a more fit Earth, methinks! —Jenn