Get Outside Into The Real World – Walk, Look, Listen

Do you want to improve your mood? Then get outside. Take a walk. Look around. Listen. Experience the real world. The physical one…

Too many have their heads in their screens these days, for too long. The electronic world. Virtual reality.

The suggestion might be controversial, even shocking…but it might do some good to get out and experience the physical world around you. And I’m not talking about just getting in your vehicle and going for a drive (although that can be fun too).

You will see and experience LOTS more of what’s around you when you walk. Be it through your neighborhood (or anywhere). This may sound fairly obvious, but how many actually take the time to discover what’s really out there?

If you walk outside, it’s like a completely different world.

Here’s what I mean…

When you drive in your vehicle, you are surrounded by a barrier. It isolates you from the environment as you drive through. Sure you can see through the windows. But you miss the true identity of the place and most of the details as you drive.

You’ve got to slow down and get outside. Walk. Then you’ll take it all in…the environment.

I try to walk more these days so I already know this to be true. However I wanted to point out the obvious because it’s literally possible to just stay inside all the time in our modern world. That is less-than-healthy. However if you force yourself to get outside, it will very likely improve your mood, and your health.

Here’s an example:

I took my truck to the local Ford dealer for service. I knew the process would take several hours. Instead of sitting in the waiting room on my butt the entire time, I went for a walk for about an hour.

I’ve driven the streets through that part of town and have explored the neighborhoods there. But what a difference while walking instead. The ‘feel’ of the place is often quite different from what you might have experienced while driving through.

When you’re walking, you’re out in the open. You’re in the physical environment. You are hearing all of the nuances around you, the sounds. Since you’re walking, it’s slow enough to actually see and experience everything compared to driving. You notice the details.

I walked through the small ‘downtown’ and then ventured off into a few neighborhoods and down a few country lanes. The ‘flavor’ of the various places felt different from the times I’ve driven through.

I noticed a shop or two which I hadn’t realized were there before. I got a feeling for the neighborhoods by seeing the details of the houses, the yards, things kept around their homes – the clues which revealed somewhat about who was living there.

Then I stopped by a river while passing over an old bridge. I saw someone fly-fishing upstream and stood there for a while and took it all in. Listening to the river, the breeze through the trees (it was a nice day).

I continued on and passed another ‘walker’ coming the opposite direction. Ironically we passed again as we each looped around a few streets – smiled and waved as though in our own world, separate from those in their cars…

I took in an amazing amount of information about that little area which I would otherwise had no idea whatsoever.

Try it sometime… Take a walk

Try it some time. Around your home neighborhood or during your lunch break at work. Take a walk. You’ve driven those roads a million times. When you walk, it will seem quite different. You will see and notice things that you had no idea about before. The place will ‘feel’ different (unless you’ve already done this before).

If your locale isn’t right for a nice walk, well, go somewhere that is!

It seems to me that today’s modern world has most of us ‘inside’, or inside of something. Your house. Your car. The workplace. The store. All the ‘places’. All except outdoors. Not too many people walk around much.

We as humans are generally most always ‘indoors’ or inside somewhere.

Is it time to get outside?

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