How to Opt Outside Any Day of the Year
Today is one of my favorite days of the year— Opt Outside Day. It’s a tradition outdoor retailer REI started in 2015 when they began closing their stores on the Friday after Thanksgiving as a way to publicly recognize how powerful time spent outdoors can be for our wellbeing.
Since then, for many of us, #optoutside has become a movement all about taking the outside option on Black Friday and all throughout the year, as often as you can, to spend a whole day outside for your wellbeing.
You don’t have to travel.
There’s no waiting in line.
Just pick a spot and step outside.
Stay there as long as you want.
Stay until your soul starts to sing if you can.
I love doing #optoutside on this particular day because, by the time the Thanksgiving turkey is in the refrigerator, I’m so sick of hearing about Black Friday deals and deleting Black Friday emails in my inbox that I just want to scream. So, taking the option to do that outside is a little gift from me to my family.
And since I’ve been writing these blogs and email messages on Fridays for the past four and a half years, I like to share outdoor-flavored things with you on this day and post them on the blog so we can opt outside whenever we want to, all year long.
Here’s what I’ve got this year ⤵
#1 — A book full of outdoor inspiration especially for tough stuff
Recently I read The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter. It’s a research-heavy nonfiction book about how we can all reclaim our wild, happy, healthy selves by refusing our culture’s endless conveyor belt of comfort in favor of long stints spent outdoors, eating more natural foods, and moving our bodies a lot. Here’s what bookshop.org has to say about it:
“In many ways, we're more comfortable than ever before. But could our sheltered, temperature-controlled, overfed, underchallenged lives actually be the leading cause of many our most urgent physical and mental health issues? In this gripping investigation, award-winning journalist Michael Easter seeks out off-the-grid visionaries, disruptive genius researchers, and mind-body conditioning trailblazers who are unlocking the life-enhancing secrets of a counterintuitive solution: discomfort. . . The Comfort Crisis is a bold call to break out of your comfort zone and explore the wild within yourself.”
Here’s where you can listen to a free chapter of The Comfort Crisis.
I loved it, especially since it’s given me all kinds of excuses to close my computer more and take better care of myself.
#2 — A 93-year-old hiker whose story is sure to push you out the door any day of the year
Last November, I wrote about a 93-year-old hiker named Margaret Mathis and why her feature in Downeast Magazine “Tales from the Trail” had been on my desk for a full year. (It now lives on my vision board) I still get goosebumps reading about how much she hikes in her 90s and loves it, and about the many dream adventures she’s been on with her family. It’s definitely a story for #optoutside day.
#3 — Photo galleries with all the outdoor feels for every season
I love looking back on photos of big outdoor adventures I’ve taken. They always give me extra inspiration for getting out there more and more. (And let’s face it, for those of us living in areas where it’s starting to get cold right now, we need extra inspiration.) So, here are a few photo galleries from the archives I hope will inspire both of us this morning
Hopefully you’ll find some inspiration in there—and plenty of permission to give yourself a whole day outside for your wellbeing today and any day you need it.
Now, I’m off to drag my teenagers out of bed and get to the top of a mountain or two with them (or three if I can).
See you out there!
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