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Here’s an edited transcript of this installment of Amy’s Outdoor Diary. Listen to the episode on iTunes, Google Podcasts, or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.
Have you ever stopped to consider your outdoor story? Or to think about your why?
As you might know, I am cranking away on a book proposal for an inspirational memoir about all of the things I’ve learned by heading outside on the 20 minute a day experiment I started in 2017. You probably know all about that experiment, because here you are, listening to Humans Outside, the podcast it inspired. I’ll be sharing many of the interviews I’ve done for the podcast throughout the book.
But whoa is writing a book hard — and especially because it’s a memoir. I mean, all book writing is hard. But memoir writing is like going to see your therapist every day for hours at a time, except the therapist is actually taking a nap so you’re just talking to yourself. And then, BAM, time is up and it’s time to clean a toilet, or make dinner, or ask someone to stop fighting with his brother, or go work at your real job. Like I said, it is hard.
But, for obvious reasons, it’s had me thinking a lot about why I headed outside to start with. You’ve heard snippets of my story here and there, and I’m not actually going to tell you exactly what the book talks about until it’s way closer to being real. But what I can tell you is that I headed outside for my 20 minute daily challenge to find a way to make myself be and feel better after moving with my family to Alaska. And, of course, that is exactly what I found.
But after over 1,300 days outside, I sometimes worry that I’m not actively opening my heart, mind and body to the things being outside can give me every day. Am I paying attention enough? Am I breathing deeply? Am I hunting for and absorbing the good, pushing through the uncomfortable and those lessons guide me as I go back inside?
Are you finding and absorbing those things when you head outside? Are you in touch with your own why? And if not, how will you find it this week?
My outdoor time was packed last week with all the things you do when it is suddenly and totally without warning the best weather of the year. At 60 and sunny, it’s been so warm in the afternoon that I’ve worked on the porch and then retreated back inside before my computer overheats. I went on a long over 12 mile trail run with friends. I helped Luke with the van — which is looking mighty fine, by the way, complete with almost all of its paint and ready to have the cabinets reinstalled. It will definitely be ready when he wants to use it soon.
But no one in our house has been more enthusiastic about the return of good weather than my 9 year old son Huck, who is hot to trot to do all of his favorite good weather activities right this second. Even though it’s been truly nice for less than 2 weeks and lakes are still thick with ice, Huck is very worried that we haven’t played tennis, for example, and has been eaglery breaking out his archery set, riding his bike and marauding the yard with his favorite sticks. It’s the little things in life, truly.
We’ve got one more week of National Parks themed shows, and I can’t wait for you to hear my interview before the month is out with the president of the National Parks passport stamps collectors club, officially known as the National Park Travelers Club. This one is nerdy and glorious. And we’ve even got a giveaway this week of everything you need to get yourself started collecting those stamps, a Starter Kit from the Passport to Your National Parks from Eastern National. Check the show notes or humansoutside.com/links to find a link to the giveaway. This is a giveaway you don’t want to miss!
Of course, you can catch all of my outdoor exploits over on Humans Outside on Instagram and Facebook and, as always, share your fun with me by tagging #humansoutside365. Until next time, we’ll see you out there!
