The time to be outside is now

Every year there is one day that feels unlike all the days that preceded it.  In Colorado it usually happens around the end of August or start of September.  I’m talking about the first day that it feels like fall.  I’ll never know, and will always wonder, what it is that shifts overnight to create this unmistakable feeling.  From yesterday to today, the temperature did not change, the clouds no more or no less, the trees look the same, and nothing told the eye that anything had changed but within seconds of first stepping out the door this morning there it was, that feeling…fall is here.

Years ago I unknowingly programmed my brain to spring into action on that day that nature announces fall’s arrival. Over 10 years living at nearly 8,000’ in elevation in the Colorado Rockies and fall signified the nearing of seven months of winter.  If we were lucky, fall would last about four weeks before the first snow would fly.  And so I learned to react with urgency to nature so graciously notifying us that there were only so many days remaining in the year when we could frolic outdoors without layers and layers of winter gear or the fear of frost bite or hypothermia.  

Summer and fall are our business’s busiest months.  A time when playing outdoors is largely put on the back burner and our eyes are typically glued to a screen.  But then fall comes and reminds us that the work can wait, fall will not.  The to-do list will always be there, the golden leaves, the rainbow-hued tundra, the crisp mornings met by warm afternoons will all soon come to pass.  

Like a magnificent sunset, fall is nature’s way of sending us a smoke signal, calling us out and away from our constant and endless feed of distractions.  It’s saying “have you looked around lately and noticed the beauty you’re surrounded by?”.  There are a lot of benefits to being productive, and let’s face it, a lot of the time it’s a downright necessity in order to keep up with all that life throws our way.  But the downside to constantly chasing after the next goal, the next gig, the next payday, we miss what’s happening right in front of us right now.  And when does it end?  When do we reach that magical, mystical time that we get to slow down and simply be?  We don’t.  We have to take it upon ourselves to press pause on the treadmill of life and embrace the regenerative qualities of nature and leisure.  

The moment I sense fall my brain responds with “it’s time to work less and get outside more”.  Realistically I may not have time for the day’s long hikes I’d like to go on but I do have time to go for short walks in the woods, to pull over on the side of the road and admire the changing leaves, to take my camera and wander around an aspen grove, to go for a scenic Sunday afternoon drive.

I hope you do too.  Fall is too good to be missed.