Making the outdoors your second home

How to spend more time outside this year

Allow me to tell you the story of a man. He's one of our most beloved presidents, he chased outlaws in Texas, had a burly mustache and is known as one of the most masculine presidents we've had.

Would you believe that the man that instituted national parks, hunted in the African savanah, and all together made the point that America was a tough nation not to be messed with, was also a very sickly child at one point? so sickly in fact, that his mother took him to the doctor to seek a solution. When they arrived at the doctors office and the doctor inspected him, the only solution the doctor could come up with was for the boy to spend more time outside. This boy grew up to be non other than Teddy Roosevelt.

I you don't know much about this president, I would like to inspire you to do a little bit of research on him. Simply by looking at the few facts I gave a couple of paragraphs above, you would understand that Roosevelt was a man's man. He might have been a sickly child at one point but that quickly went away as he spent time in the american wilderness, swimming, cllimbing, hiking and exploring. If the great outdoors did that to a sickly child, imagine what it could do to you?

An article that Harvard Medical School published in July 2010 claims that spending time outside regularly, increases your levels of vitamin D, puts you in a better mood, helps you heal faster, and could even help you focus more. Kids with ADHD were shown to have better focus after spending some time outside.

So what's keeping you? Well if you are like the majority of us, with a job, classes, a wife, and perhaps kids. Making time to be outside might be a little bit difficult. Between juggling all of our activities, we end up ignoring the trails and realizing that every single one of our activities in our schedulle are in a pasty room under the sickly green glow of a flourecent bulb.

Of this I am tired. So following the mantra of the anvil. Gospel, gear, advice. Allow me to give you some advice on how I plan to spend more time outside and perhaps you can make these changes in your life so that you may live happier, healthier,  more focused  lives.

1. Limit your netflix
I am serious, I know a lot of people that have a problem with Netflix. They watch show after show, season after season next thing they know a whole day has gone by that they could have spent outside. They wonder why they don't have any time to relax and they are curious to why although they been sitting all day long they feel terrible and exhausted. I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with watching a few shows or a few movies. What I am saying is that if you want to live a happier healthier life, decide to put some margins around your Electronic Entertainment and make it a point to go outside instead.

2. Invest
Buy a soccer ball, a basketball, a frisbee, if you got real money, buy a bike, anything that you will enjoy and get you to spend time outside. this doesn't have to be some type of sport necessarily. In fact, probably my favorite piece of outdoor paraphernalia is my ENO hammock. There's no better thing than finding a trail, walking for a while, spoting the perfect set of trees and then just chilling for an hour or so.

3. Get a partner
I remember taking a few of the kids that I had been discipling out to the famous place near Chattanooga called the blue hole. This a place that runs between two mountains and captures rainwater making beautiful blue pools off water. The water is usually freezing but there's no better bonding time than you and your boys daring each other to jump into the ice cold water and swim to the nearest Boulder. I am telling you every time I see this young man we still talk about it, it was both hilarious, bonding, and fun. Grab a friend, or a brother perhaps, if you're married definitely bring your wife and enjoy time outside together. Having somebody to encourage you to go outside I'll make it more likely that you spend the time doing it.

4. Be prepared
I'm not talking about end of the world prepared, I'm talking about having a nice day outside prepared. In fact, my hiking bag is actually my evac bag, I just take a few things out before I hit the trail. Here is a list of things to always keep ready in a bag, this way you dont have to wander if you are ready to hit the trail, you can just grab the bag and go.

• Water container
• trail mix or protein bar (rotate as needed)
• Compass
• first aid kit 
• survival kit
• Eno hammock (I am telling you, you need to get one)

If you want to pack anything else is up to you, but at least with this you will have the basics to hit the trail.

5. Make plans

Put it on your calendar, you are more likely to actually do it if its scheduled.  If a day off is coming up, make sure to fill it with time outside and dont deviate from it. Pick out wich trail you are going to hit and prepare your bag and gear the night before. If you dont know where any trails are allow me to introduce you to a great website that a friend showed me.

roots rated.com

Manly facts about President T.R

As a man it breaks my heart everytime I see an office drone with no adventure in him. Don't get me wrong, I wear a bluetooth for a living, I totally understand the confines of formal clothing and proper haircuts. But inside, where it matters, I am a man of adventure. I am a Teddy Roosevelt, presidential perhaps, but also wild. Thank you for reading and hope to see you on the trail.

Teddy riding a moose trough a river, your argument is invalid.