Staying inside is a great feeling, I get that! But you certainly cannot choose to stay inside for a longer period of time because it will definitely lead to heightened levels of anxiety, stress, loneliness, fear, and irrational thoughts. After all, "an idle mind is a devil's workshop." I feel the same way and just love to be outside embracing the amazing sunshine when the weather's resplendent or even if it is raining.
This semester, I have had the pleasure of taking a biology course titled, "Field Ecology." Field Ecology is a dynamic course where the majority of the time is spent outdoors as opposed to inside the classroom. This class focuses on the hands-on application of locating extraneous organisms and plant-life that are a part of the NJ Bioblitz. Honestly, I have learned an extensive amount of information regarding the names of certain species that I have never even heard of and also learned more about certain species that I have certainly seen throughout my entire life.
In other words, being outside amidst nature reduces a tremendous amount of stress and makes you feel more rejuvenated than before. While a person may rejoice surfing the net or even doing simple errands indoors, they will not be able to experience the pure joy of interacting with the biodiversity found outdoors.
As a matter of fact, I love to bird watch and just hearing and seeing birds makes me further realize how beautiful life really is. Sometimes, we need to be outside in order to realize how delightful the world truly is so that we can limit our frustrations when things don't go as planned. For instance, TIME writer, Markham Heid writes, "Think of nature as the counterpoise to the scatteredness of your attention when you are swiping and clicking through different work, entertainment, and social sites. These "media multitasking" behaviors have been linked to higher rates of anxiety and depression-both of which time spent outdoors seems to combat."
This stands absolutely true to the fact that such tech-savvy activities will cause a person to lose moments of self-satisfaction and self-motivation. These activities are considered dry and will tend to exhaust individuals even more. However, an alternative solution is to go outside even for a few minutes to reassess your own personal level of growth and optimism. After all, have you ever met anyone who would prefer staying inside rather than outside for most of the day?
