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What comes to mind when you hear the word camping? Is it sitting in a tent, RV or travel trailer stranded in the middle of nowhere with no cellular connection, internet, proper bath and toilet? or sitting around the fire in a wilderness roasting marshmallows? Have you ever wondered why people travel to remote places by vehicle, bike or even on foot and subject themselves to tough or harsh conditions? Whatever mental picture you have created for yourself about camping, it somehow managed to turn you off whenever people start talking about it. But if camping is that bad, why do so many people around the globe go camping every single year? In the United States alone, over 50 Million people aged six and above are reported to have gone camping in 2022 and 2023 alone. That is a lot of folks. The question is, what drives them to the wilderness? What made them abandon their comfort zone and head straight to the outdoors? Could all of them be wrong? These and many other questions might pop up in your mind right now. But listen to this, all these people have reasons that govern their decision-making. The reasons that make their desire to spend time outdoors greater than their fear of negative experiences emanating from going out. Lucky for you, we have compiled some of these reasons that can drive you away from your couch to the outdoors. Here are the top three not-so-obvious reasons why you too should go camping.
1. Enhancing your personal growth
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You might have heard the saying that goes, “A comfort zone is a beautiful place, but nothing ever grows there”. Unfortunately, that is true. You might have fallen in love with your daily routine and grind. Wake up, go there, visit here, take this, bring that, get back home, watch TV and off you go to the dreamland. Tomorrow, you start over and go through the same schedule. The next day, nothing changes. Next week, next month, next year, and the year after that, before you know it, years have flown by and you keep doing the same things over and over again. Don’t get it wrong! It is fine to follow the same schedule and do the same things every year, but you need to pay attention to what goes into that schedule. For most people, this daily grind comprises work, a bit of time at home watching TV shows, sports or whatever is on the TV, just watching. Weekends are for household chores, and getting ready to go back to work the following Monday. If you enjoy this, then congratulations, but life is more than that.
So, how does camping enhance my personal growth? We hear you asking.
First, let us clear your mind out of the negative image of camping. Consider this, camping can subject you to a lot of unknowns, and a lot of things could go wrong. Maybe this is your perspective. But can’t things go wrong while sitting at home, commuting to work or even while working? Sure they can. What differentiates these from the camping experience is your perspective. Now, let’s look at camping from a different angle not from what you are used to.
Challenge yourself to look at camping as the whole experience from thinking about it, planning it, embarking on a journey for it, to arriving at your camping spot, experiencing the camp life and returning to your bricks and sticks. Each of these stages can and will provide you with a new experience. Perhaps a new point of view, and even a new skill set.
Now, to enhance your personal growth through camping, here are the steps you need to follow.
First, decide to go camping. Once you make that decision, this is how it is going to play out. You will start asking yourself a lot of questions such as, how to go camping? where to go camping? what do I need to go camping? when should I go camping? what to do while camping? Should I go camping alone or with family and friends? Do babies go camping? Can I bring my pet to the campsite? How many days should I go camping? How much does it cost to go camping? and so on. These and many other questions will flow to your mind. You can be overwhelmed and that is fine. We have all been there. For your information, we will cover most of these questions in our coming posts. You can subscribe here to be notified once a new post is published.
Second, commit yourself to seeking answers to each of these camping questions. Since each of them will bring you to a new level, you will realise that camping is a completely different world on its own and there are hundreds of things you did not know and you have not yet experienced. There are many places you have not yet seen, friends you have not yet met and relationships you have not yet strengthened.
As a result, by embracing this challenge of going camping, you will improve your self-awareness and resilience against challenges. Not just outdoor challenges but any challenges. You will become a better decision-maker. Meaning that, whenever you have to make a decision, your choices will have to align with your goals and values. Before you know it, camping has already transformed you into a new better person with knowledge and skills that can be transformed to other spheres of life and that is how you grow. As the saying goes, “If you are not learning, you are not growing. And if you are not growing, you are not living”.
By any means, if personal growth is not your thing. Then, the second reason that follows may get you moving.
2. Accumulating good lasting memories
Camping is one of those moments in life where you get a chance to create good lasting memories. The good memories you make in preparation, on your journey to the campsite, at the campsite and while returning home can and will be worthwhile. You can read as many books as you like about camping, watch every video there is about camping and even visit every website there is about camping and outdoor lifestyle. But, for you to have a taste of those good memories you have to get up from your couch and head out to experience them. You can also take advantage of the technology by taking pictures and videos of your experience while on the adventure. These will bring a smile to your face and sometimes even tears, down the road of life.
There is a saying by Maya Angelou that goes, “People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But people will never forget how you made them feel.” We can all agree that this is what we experience in our daily lives. In our interactions with friends, colleagues, neighbours and even family members. But let’s look at it from a different perspective. When we talk about people here, we generally refer to others. We do not include ourselves. But what happens if we could reflect that same quote to ourselves? How many things have we said and done and we have completely forgotten? But we can still remember the moments when we had strong feelings. It could be the day you met your significant other, the day you started a new job, the day your children were born, or even the day you discovered our website. Whatever the reasons might be, you still remember them because it’s in those moments that our emotions go to the roof.
The same applies to our memories. We can still remember some of the moments from our past lives. Perhaps in our childhood, or even in our adult lives. Have you ever thought about who you could be without your memories? Especially, your good memories. Things you have experienced, people you have met, places you have visited and how each of these made you feel. It is our tendency as humans that whenever we get to a new phase in life, we carry with us the memories of the previous phase. For instance, when you talk to youngsters, they will tell you about their childhood and how awesome or boring it was because that is what they remember. The same applies to adults, we can still remember our youth or even our childhood. This goes all the way to old age, where we start reflecting on our entire past lives. It can be scary, reaching the end of life and realising that you have not lived. There are a lot of good memories you could have built for yourself, with your kids, with your friends and other family members. But because of different reasons, you decided not to.
You might have let a lot of opportunities pass you by. Consider this as your wake-up call, and embrace the camping experience to create new, good, and lasting memories. Because there is nothing more painful than the pain of regret. Knowing that you had an opportunity to try it, but you didn’t. As long as the sun is rising from the east and you are still breathing, you can open a new page today, go camping and fill it with good memories worth remembering.
If enhancing your personal growth and accumulating good memories still do not make you move an inch off your couch, then pay strict attention to the next reason. It could blow your mind.
3. Boosting your health
We like living life to the fullest, enjoying everything this world has to offer and for as long as we can imagine. But what will life be like if we are not in good health condition? Shortly, we cannot experience the pleasure of life and what it offers if we are not in good health. Health is quite broad but we can narrow it down to physical and mental health.
Camping can boost your health in both ways. If you get yourself active while camping, your physical health will undoubtedly improve. We will dive deep into this subject while discussing what to do while camping. You can subscribe here to be notified once a new post is published.
Additionally, our mental health is of utmost importance as our physical health. However, in our society, we tend to lean more towards physical health partly because it is easily evident and noticeable when we ignore it. Our mental health is the driving force of everything we do. Consider it like the engine of your vehicle. You can have a very good-looking vehicle but if the engine fails, the entire vehicle is of no use. The same applies to our bodies, we should exercise and stay active, but we should also pay strict attention to our mental health to live a happy and meaningful life. If mental issues are your concern, then hang in there pal and keep reading, because what follows below can be your answer.
So, how does camping improve mental health?
Glad you asked! Simply, camping helps your body connect with nature, which leads to a decrease in the stress hormone levels in your body. As a result, your mental well-being improves.
Our bodies produce stress hormones which play an important role in how our bodies respond to stress. Stress can be any threat in a real or perceived situation. These stress hormones are important because a little stress can be beneficial to motivate us or help us to stay focused. However, if the stress levels are excessive our mental health is affected negatively. Early on, you can experience depression and anxiety and in the long run, stress can lead to burnout, which is physical and mental exhaustion. If you do not tackle stress head-on, it can lead to other health complications such as high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke.
The good news is that taking this under control is pretty straightforward because the remedy is in nature and our bodies love nature. According to researchers, spending at least 20 to 30 minutes connecting with nature leads to a significant decrease in stress hormone (cortisol) levels. Low levels of stress hormones mean improvement in your mental and emotional well-being which improves your mood.
Therefore, before it is too late, start making the camping plan and head out. Your body will thank you for it; By the way, you only have this one body to carry you through this adventure called life, so take good care of it.
There you have it, camping can enhance your personal growth, it helps you make and accumulate good lasting memories and it boosts your health.
Hey! Before you leave. Here are our final bits:
1- If you have made up your mind and want to go camping, please check our next posts to help you with the process and enable you to reap the maximum benefits of camping.
2- Please share your comments below. Let us know your thoughts, your experience and your story.
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Remember, “Life is too short, and we only live once. But sometimes for a life well lived, once is enough.”
See you in the next one!
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