How To Be Happy #12: Go outside. Seriously. Just go.
There’s something just amazing about being outside. It feels... I don’t know... like it’s alive. Being outside is refreshing, comforting, relaxing and invigorating.
Look, yeah, I know. I live in Australia, where it’s mostly temperate and gorgeous 86 per cent of the year. (The remaining 14 per cent is divided between the days where it’s too hot or too cold and we all sit inside next to the air conditioner or the heater and moan and whinge.) In some places in the world, it’s too hot or too cold all the time. But not many of us live in the North Pole or the Sahara Desert. There have to be some times of the year when you can go outside, no matter where you live.
Some of my favourite, happiest memories in life come from days spent splashing around in the ocean, or walking on paths in the mountains, or taking evening strolls along dusty canal banks, or just sitting in my favourite frangipani tree, reading, with the sun warming up my toes.
My mum always told me and my brothers to ‘GO OUTSIDE’ and I’m glad she did. It’s was good for us then, and it’s good for me now.
Research has shown that looking out at the horizon relaxes your brain. If that’s not good for happiness, I don’t know what is. Generally, being outside is healthier - and makes us happier than being inside.
If you’ve been stuck inside, try these things:
Gardening
Taking a walk around the block
Camping
Hanging out next to a bonfire (be safe!)
Lying on your back and looking up at the night sky
Getting the sun on your face
Putting a jacket on and splashing in the rain. (Or forget the jacket)
Making some snowballs and aiming them at your brother
Are you more of an inside or an outside person? Why?
Where’s your favourite ‘outside’ place?
What is your favourite thing to do inside? Could you do it outside instead?
List three different outside activities you could do this week. Go do them!
Want more on how to be happy? Check out the rest of Cecily Paterson's How To Be Happy blog series for more tips and advice.
Want more of Cecily's writing? You can grab a free copy of her novel, Invisible here.