Outside Day 365

For my full retrospective on my first successful completion of Outside 365, please read this article: “Go Outside, Transform Your Life.”

This article was originally published July 26, 2019.

I can’t believe it’s here! For years I had a goal stuck in the back of my mind, that for the life of me I couldn’t seem to actualize. That goal was to go outside and be active every day, for 365 days straight. I called it #Outside365.

I first wrote about this idea back in 2016. After having my 365-day streak derailed by two different surgeries and several other injuries, somehow I’ve made it. Today marks 365 continuous days of being active outside!

I’m sure I’ll have some better-formed thoughts for you soon, but in many ways reaching this milestone feels a bit anticlimactic. Yes, there were highs and lows, and plenty of crazy activities like purposely forcing myself to walk a mile at 3am to get to a train station in Stapleton before spending the next day and a half on airplanes on my way to Indonesia.

But completing the goal feels anti-climactic because, after a few months of exercising every single day, the decisions required go from a challenge ("when will I fit in my adventure today?") to a habit ("time for my evening mountain bike ride”) to a lifestyle where you no longer think about going outside… it’s just what you do whenever you have a free moment.

In fact, I’ve let the outside permeate my soul so deeply that after weeks of living in a camper, sleeping in a house or hotel feels strange and unnatural. Even sitting in a couch to relax seems like a weird choice, and I’d much prefer a hammock strung between two trees.

#outside365 has become a way of life, and I don’t plan to stop any time soon!

For my full retrospective on my first successful completion of Outside 365, please read this article: “Go Outside, Transform Your Life.”