Thing's Change
Today (Sat 10th Oct 2020) is World Mental Health Day (WMHD).
It’s very easy to claim to be an advocate of the great outdoors and to wax about the positive benefits spending time outdoors can bring to both physical and mental well-being; However, defining the detail of ‘how’ and ‘why’, I find is less than straightforward - especially where mental health and well-being is concerned.
I’m no expert in mental health so I can really do no more than refer to my own experiences here and share with you some reflections and consequent realisations touching on recent changes in my approach to the time I’m spending in the great outdoors.
I haven’t necessarily made any significant or conscious decisions to change, but through the changes we’ve all experienced this year as well as changes to my personal circumstances, the change has been to a degree subconscious but the benefits have been very tangible.
The realisation for me was once again reinforced only this week during time I spent walking in Herefordshire with my brother Philip and prompted by a very simple question he asked of me - ‘Which do you now prefer - running or walking when you’re out in the hills?’
There was a time when that question would almost certainly have sent me into a state of anxiety, causing me to check my watch and question how much longer we’d be out walking as I was losing time in the day to get out and run. Alternatively I’d have waited a few minutes then attempted to hi-jack his day and enjoyment by surreptitiously attempting to quicken the pace in an attempt to morph the walk to something as close as a run as I possibly could. Either way the day’s enjoyment would have been tarnished for one, if not both of us.
As a consequence of recent changes in my lifestyle, and specifically my diet, I no longer feel under the same self inflicted pressure resulting in such levels of anxiety to be cutting anything short or speeding up anyone else’s enjoyment in pursuance of my misapprehension that good physical and mental well-being can only be achieved through excessive and disproportionate amounts of extreme physical exercise.
There is nothing wrong with extreme physical exercise and I’d welcome the opportunity to work with clients training and preparing for events of an extreme physical nature, but without wanting to sound cliche, for me there now has to be a healthy balance. So by removing the elements of ‘excessive’ and ‘disproportionate’ in my approach to the time I spend outdoors, and through realising the benefits of an improved personal diet, I’m experiencing less anxiety and genuinely enjoying my time outside more.
If I’m running then I’m not taking in my surroundings and their benefits anywhere near as much as when I’m walking, but the biggest difference is in the quality of the time I’m spending with others. I’m really enjoying and benefitting personally from simply listening to what others have to say and sharing some of my own thoughts and experiences on the way. I’m now taking more time to enjoy their company and the shared experience.
I’ve finally realised that to be enjoyable, rewarding and fulfilling, it doesn’t have to be a race to the summit (or several summits in as short a time as possible), in fact there doesn’t need to be a summit. Some of the most enjoyable experiences recently have been in the lowland environment on walks with historical points of interest.
I’ll sign off with an overarching acknowledgement that my commitment now in the time I spend outdoors with others is as much, if not more, about maximising and enhancing their enjoyment, whatever their ambition might be, than it is attempting to pursue my own - and that’s a great feeling!!
Chris.
