How to Enjoy the Outdoors When You’re Stuck Indoors

playing outdoors on a recent adventure before we became housebound

Besides a few neighborhood walks I am confined to my home this week due to sickness; my family’s and my own. It’s not fun being in the house all day long, but being a doer I am never bored.

Here are some ideas to keep you busy when stuck inside.

Enjoy the Outdoors even when indoors.

Read/Learn/Get Inspired

• Thanks to the In Ice Axe We Trust podcast and to the @peakseeker and The Last Adventurer I am now reading Mountaineering: Freedom of the Hills. Subscribe to this new podcast while you’re at it.
• Go through your blog reader and catch up on your favorite outdoor websites and the recent posts you have not had time to read. I prefer well-written trip reports instead of gear reviews. How about you?
• Teach yourself some new outdoor skills. Try to start a fire with a water bottle. That’s fun, right?
• Work on your 2013 resolutions. What can you do at home to get ahead? Take an online class? Read a book? Work out?
• Connect and talk to other outdoorsy minded people on twitter. They’re a good bunch. You can find me @walksimply
• If you haven’t been following the Yosemite Nature Series now is the time to start. Beautiful. One Day in Yosemite is the most recent video.
• Watch Murmuration. I love this video.
• Okay, not exactly outdoor related, but anyone here a Nelson Demille fan and specifically a fan of the protagonist John Corey? I’m finally catching up and reading the Lion. This series will make you forget your are at home and not playing outdoors. It’s always a good Adventure!
• Explore nature in your own backyard. When’s the last time you sat on your patio in your backyard and watched the birds come and go? Get out your binoculars.

even the pup likes to get in on the action

Create

• Make some trail mix for your next outdoor adventure.
  
• Popular this week are reverse bucket lists. Create a Reverse Bucket List like Meghan Ward did. Take a break from your 2013 resolutions and reflect on your accomplishments.
• Get ahead and write your next few blog posts.

• Need ideas for those blog posts? Here are 53 writing prompts to get you started.

• Edit those outdoor photos you’ve meant to do. Looking through those photos will inspire you to get back outdoors. All the photos on this post were from a recent time playing outdoors. I can’t wait to get back out there.
• Print out your favorite outdoor photos and display them in your home.
• Look through old vacation/trip photos with your family and relive the fun and not so fun outdoor adventures you had.
• Clean and organize your gear and prepare for your next trip.
• Research and plan your next trip.
• Create an indoor garden or water those neglected indoor plants.
• Do you like to write? Draw? Paint? Now is the perfect time to do it.

Work Out

If you are not as sick as a dog then you can do this! Do a few sets here and a few sets there. Work them into your day.

• Do the one hundred push ups challenge
• There are plenty of no equipment workouts. Find one. Do it. Think jumping jacks, squats, leg lifts, planks, and push ups.
• Pull out those old workout DVDs and get to it.
• How can you improve your stamina or strength for your favorite outdoor activity? Do it.

not exactly climbing attire

Relax

Yes, I can think of many ways to spend my time indoors. This list doesn’t even scratch the surface, but sometimes you need to rest your body and mind.

Just sit back.

Get well.

Eat healthy

Relax.

And daydream. Dream of your next adventure to be had.

How do you enjoy the outdoors when stuck indoors? Share in the comments.

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