How 2020 Made me an Outdoors(wo)man

I have never considered myself to be "outdoorsy." 

I love the beauty of nature: mountains, lakes, the ocean, a tree lit afire with color in the fall, the smell of spring, all the noises of wildlife in the summer. I love to be in the presence of nature- seeing God's glory with my eyes and taking an obsessive amount of pictures of it. There is nothing that brings me more calm and zen than being by the water. I have always liked to just stand and see nature, but I didn't really need to hang out in it for long periods of time. I didn't need to touch it or interact with it. I just wanted to be near it. Am I making any sense? 

All that has held up for my entire life- liking to be near nature, but not really wanting to be all up in it. Until 2020 happened. 2020 has made me an outdoors(wo)man! 

Needing to Escape

When you're in the hustle and bustle of your life: taking people back and forth to practices, going to school and work, stretching yourself thin from a very packed schedule, all you want to do is be able to stay at home. To go nowhere. 2020 gave that to us on steroids. It was fun for a little bit, novel, new. It felt like a gift. Then, as the weeks turned into months, I found myself wanting absolutely nothing else in the entire world than to be out of my house. The problem was, however, there was absolutely nowhere to go! Anything I ever used to do to get out of the house, things like taking my kids to go play at someone else's house, going out to dinner, browse around Target aimlessly, was closed or shutdown or not allowed. 

I remember distinctly, when even the playgrounds closed in our area, Josh and I lost our minds. I think we both even cried. What were we seriously going to do?! Here we were with four very active boys and we had nowhere to go and nothing to do to burn any energy, change our scenery, or break up our day.

Having my entire family around 24/7 with no end in sight is a kind claustrophobia and suffocation I have never experienced before. 

Hiking, visiting state and national parks, and traveling to remote places became how 2020 made me an outdoors(wo)man. 

Hiking

Hiking the North Bubble: Acadia National Park

Almost overnight it seemed, we became obsessed with hiking in the woods. Trails weren't closed, walking around wasn't canceled. We would hit up nature center after nature center in our area and roam around. Often we were there alone, which made it an incredibly safe option last spring. Our boys got into finding the perfect walking stick, looking for water, and climbing on every single large rock or fallen tree they could spot. We tracked animal footprints and listened for birds. Going to a park to hike was sometimes the only time any of us would leave our house or yard all week. It became something we all looked forward to. 

Then, upon doing some safe travel, out west to Montana and South Dakota in June and out east to Maine in September, we kicked our hiking up a notch. 

In our area of Michigan, saying you're going hiking is basically saying you're going for a walk on a flat trail in the woods. There are no hills really, there is no elevation climb. When we plopped ourselves in the middle of nowhere in Montana in June and began to 'hike,' we weren't totally prepared for what we could endure. The tails we would walk were uphill and downhill. There were sharp rocks. Not everything was super cleared away and sometimes we were going straight up. This was new territory for all of us. Our shoes (and sometimes flip flops, I'm embarrassed to say) weren't cutting it. As NOT an outdoorsy person, I had never thought to pack anything on our hikes and we quickly realized people got hungry and thirsty. We had no 'gear.' I had to wise up. 

Between our trip to Montana in June and our Maine in September, we spent SO much time outside in the summer... endless hours of really being immersed in nature. I also bought our family hiking boots. If someone would've told me last year that would be one of my favorite things I bought, I would've laughed in their face. When we went to Maine, we had the right shoes, we had backpacks, we had good insulated water bottles. 

We now make hiking a thing that we do wherever we go. 

State and National Parks

Acadia National Park

Until 2020, I had never been to a national park. I'm not even sure if I ever really cared to go to one. Planning a trip to Yellowstone National Park changed the game for me. I was star-struck everywhere with beauty. I didn't just want to drive through it or pull over to take some photos (although I did plenty of that too), but I wanted to really be in the park. To spend hours there. The most amazing part of being at a national park, I found, is how many different things there are to see and do. I had thought it may all look the same and it totally did not. 

Going to Badlands National Park in South Dakota completely blew my mind! Acadia National Park was just as gorgeous and spectacularly special as well. The state parks we have visited have been equally unique also. 

Each of these locations had more acreage than we could ever get tired of exploring, ways to safely spread out and explore, and we would spend hours and hours or multiple days adventuring. Never in my life would I have expected I could hang like that and no only just be there, but enjoy it and look forward to it.   

Travel to Remote Places

Our 'neighborhood' in Emigrant, Montana

When we went to Montana in June 2020 and stayed in Emigrant, I had never spent time in such a remote place. The nearest grocery store was a 30 minute drive. There was no downtown, no stores. If it wasn't a main road, it probably wasn't paved. There was nothing for us to do there except be in nature. Period. We planned that trip, initially, to make sure we were traveling to as safe a location as possible. Where being socially distant would happen naturally. We wanted to come in contact with as little amount of people as possible. Mission accomplished :) Nature was calling and there was no other option except for us to lean in and fully embrace, spending hours upon hours outside in the middle of nowhere. This trip will go down in history, for me, as being one of the best trips we will have ever taken. 

When we are going on an adventure anywhere now, trails and parks and nature centers are a part of our plans. We have goals of going places we would've completely overlooked because there is a national park nearby and we've gotta see it! As we look for places to stay, we pay attention to acreage, close proximity to nature adventures, and have totally flip-flopped our appreciation for being off the grid and in the middle of nowhere. 2020 has completely changed the way we want to travel and explore as a family. 

How to be More Outdoorsy 

#halfdozenhundts on a trail about ten minutes from our house

Despite my improvements, I will be the first to say that I am no expert on being 'outdoorsy.' I still hate camping. I don't like bugs. Getting muddy drives me crazy. Buuuuuuuuut, I still recommend doing more in nature right this second. And, because my #oneword for 2021 is small, I have a few little tips on how to start being more outdoorsy. 

My first recommendation is to spend more time outside now than you usually do. A lot of us are knee deep in winter so I realize I am asking you to do a hard thing in a hard season. If you mostly stay away for the outdoors in winter, set a small goal of spending maybe three hours outside a week or go outside for a bigger chunk of time once a week. Having more opportunities to be outside will certainly help. 

Another is to try a trail near you... like today or tomorrow. Start small and so something that's a half mile or a mile round trip. Look up the options and become familiar. 

Finally, the next time you go anywhere outside your area, be intentional to enjoy something extra outdoorsy wherever you go. If you go visit family a couple of hours away, hit up the nearest nature center. Going on a road trip? Stop at a trail on the way to get some wiggles out. 

Being Outdoorsy Has Changed Me 

Truly spending time in the outdoors has changed me and changed my family. This winter, so far, we have spent more time outside than we ever have. We are still hiking. Neither my husband or I are big winter fans, but we are embracing a little better and leaning in to the cold and snow. Being outside, for long periods of time, is just something we do know. It is who we are. 

My interaction with nature is also different now. I breathe in a little deeper, pay attention to sounds and feelings of peace while outside. I see nature better, differently.

2020, and this whole pandemic in general, has given us a lot of difficult things and changes to our life. Being more outdoorsy with my family has been its absolute greatest gift.