Rebuilding Rob

As WordPress continues to recycle old prompts, I pulled another prompt from The Coffee Monsterz Co to respond to today

How much time did you spend in nature this week? Is time in nature important to you?

Sometimes I have to differentiate between spending time “outdoors“ and spending time “in nature“. If you would ask me how much time I spent outdoors this week, I would say less than seven hours. I don’t think I spent more than one hour a day outside any day this week. So if you were going to ask me how much time I spent “in nature“ this week I would say zero.

A big part of that is because the weather in this part of the country has been lousy this week. It’s been cold after being a very mild fall and we’re expecting a significant amount of snowfall tomorrow. Not a blizzard, but we may get 4 to 5 inches of snow, which would make this our first significant snowfall of the season.

It’s not that I don’t appreciate nature. I do in fact. I think I appreciate a lot more than the average person does. However, the truth is, I grew up in the suburbs. There was one particular moment in time where I was much more in tune with nature than I was at any other point in my life.

Boy Scouts and the Outdoor Code

My first real outdoorsy experience was when I was a Boy Scout for a few years in junior high school and into high school. One of the core tenets they preached in Boy Scouts was the “Outdoor Code,” which essentially says to leave nature in a better state than you found it. This goes beyond just picking up litter. If you made a fire, clear out the fire pit. If you do any pits or holes, fill them back in. Also make sure that any ground that you walked on was properly graded smoothly.

I enjoyed my time in Boy Scouts, but it was relatively short-lived. I never made it beyond the ranks of First Class; I only attended three of the annual, week-long “summer camps” and ultimately only earned about a dozen merit badges. Summer camp meant living out of a tent for a full week in designated campsites. But beyond summer camp, I went on hikes where we slept under a dining tarp that we carried in our packs. I also spent one weekend at “winter camp“ where I still slept in a tent, albeit one outside in the snow. One year as part of earning the wilderness survival merit badge, I literally slept on a sleeping bag under the stars – otherwise exposed to the elements.

After Boy Scouts, I think I went camping for one weekend, once with my brother. That was about the end of my camping experience for many years. Despite such a passage of time, I still felt as if all of my camping skills and instincts were still with me.

About 10 years ago, X2 and I tried to go camping once in Georgia. Kid 2 was only a few months old at the time. But it was mid-summer in Georgia with temperatures and humidity higher than what we were used to. This was compounded by the fact that I was 30 years removed from my previous camping experience. I just wasn’t cut out for it anymore – certainly not like I used to be.

It’s frustrating. I remember X2 had a work colleague who was very much one of those “outdoorsy-survivalist” people. He would often go camping and hiking alone, spending a lot of time completely isolated in nature. I wish I could be more like that. Not only do I wish I had more of these survival skills and instincts, but I also wish that I just enjoyed being outdoors more than I do.

Another reason that I wish I was more in tune with nature is that as an English literature enthusiast, I can’t help but think about the work of Henry David Thoreau; when he spent two years living in Walden Woods.

Thoreau sought simplicity by stepping away from the ‘minutiae of modern life.’ I can’t imagine his thoughts on our current reality. Maybe the answer isn’t to live in Walden Woods, but to simply find a way to honor the ‘Outdoor Code’ in our everyday lives—to leave our small piece of the world, whether urban or rural, just a little better than we found it.

So, what about you? What small action can you take this week to transition from being merely ‘outdoors’ to being truly ‘in nature’?”

Thanks for stopping by Rebuilding Rob. Be sure to like, 👍 comment and subscribe to my blog below. It’s greatly appreciated! Also, feel free to follow me on social media as well! Check out my most recent posts as well as some earlier, related (and perhaps, not-so-related) posts:

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