4 Years Later, the World Needs to Go Outside More than Ever Before
Denali National Park, Alaska
Today I've reached the four-year mile marker in my long journey down the Outside 365 road. I've been outside and active every day for the past 1,462 days without fail. I've covered at least one human-powered mile outside every day through the worst weather conditions imaginable, multiple injuries, COVID, time crunches, and more.
As I cast my mind back over the last four years, I ask myself: "How does humanity view its connection to nature now compared to when I began this challenge four years ago?"
During the pandemic, it seemed that perhaps humanity might turn back to its evolutionary roots, acknowledging our fundamental need to be connected to nature, to again place value upon Earth's wilder spaces. It seems that a particular cohort clung to that lesson and kept it close to their hearts. For instance, it helped catapult the popularity of mountain biking forward by almost a decade's worth of growth. But unfortunately, in 2022 the worldwide state of affairs looks so much bleaker than it did in 2018.
Denali National Park, Alaska
I've written before about the massive amount of time that we spend staring into our screens, so I don't want to belabor the point here. But no matter which source you consult, the current trends are obvious: the amount of time humans spend plugged into our technology is only increasing around the globe. While perhaps a small cohort has clung to the outdoor lessons of the pandemic, other lessons made themselves known during the same time. For example, adolescents' recreational screen time (not including the additional time spent on video calls for online school) doubled during the pandemic. (Source)
Of the two lessons, the lesson of increased screen time will probably be the one to get most deeply ingrained in our international human psyche. In the past year, we've witnessed the birth of what might be the first massive virtual reality world: the Metaverse. One of the richest and most powerful men in the world is launching a virtual space for people to live and work. He is touting the supposed massive advantages of this technology which he says could fundamentally change how we organize ourselves on an international scale. Any science fiction nerd will tell you there's no way that could possibly go wrong... *rolls eyes* (Source)
I dream of being able to reach the world and impress upon the video game-playing millions the beauty and wonder that can be found right outside their front doors in the natural world. I dream big dreams of a return to the woods and the trees, of seeing people falling in love again with the wonders of the dirt, sand, and water. Of seeing people put away their headphones and instead listen to the sound of the wind whistling through the trees.
But this dream is only that: a beautiful mirage that crumples upon contact with the brutal reality of our world in 2022. Even if this philosophy of wonder, of nature, of physical movement, of embracing the difficult and sometimes painful parts of life could reach more people, the adherents to this philosophy would still only represent an ever-decreasing minority of the population.
Denali National Park, Alaska
I want to change the world. I know, I know: that's so fucking cliche and idealistic. And the older I get, the more I realize how futile that idealism is. We are so, so incredibly helpless to change the trajectory of the human race. Global changes operate on a scale that can't even be influenced by the most powerful of political leaders.
But being helpless to affect global change doesn't mean that we as individuals are helpless. Because we still have the power to change our own lives.
This is one of the core tenets of the Outside 365 philosophy: we are in control of our own lives. We can carpe the fucking diem and choose to change our own experience of reality right now. Perhaps we will never be able to affect massive change on a global scale, but we can still create change in our own small corners of the universe, in our own small circles of influence.
As the saying goes (regardless of who actually said it), we can "be the change that we want to see in the world." If enough people decide to change themselves, who knows what could happen?
So keep going outside and keep moving your body. Keep searching for beauty and wonder. The world awaits!
