The benefits of being outdoors can be felt by all. Historically, I was someone who could not understand the benefits of being outdoors. If you told my father 20 years ago that at 31 I’d consider myself an outdoorsy person, he would have laughed.

I was very much an indoor-kid. I watched television, played video games, and read for entire days. If I went outside, I thought it was a punishment. I didn’t love the beach, I didn’t love the outdoors, and I didn’t love being active.

Now, if I go more than a day without a long walk outside, a week without a hike or park visit, or a month without seeing a mountain, I feel depleted.

How is it that I, the indoorsy of all indoors kids, became an “outdoor” person? Probably 500 ways, but here are 5 easy changes I made to become more outdoorsy. You can do them too. Then you can appreciate the benefits of being outdoors. 

#1: Separated the idea of being outdoors from bugs.

One of the main reasons I never wandered outside much starting in adolescence had to do with bugs. As a child, I remember a spider jumping on my face when I smelled a rose. I remember centipedes in the spring showing up in the living room. 5 years ago, that’s what I equated to the outdoors: Bugs.

I noticed bugs more indoors than when outdoors, and that changed everything. Now, I’m able to receive the benefits of being outdoors. 

Truly, how often do you notice a spider on the sidewalk next to you? Not often, right? But don’t you always see them when they are in the corner of the bedroom? 

I also learned and finally understood that they did not give a fuck about me. Will I touch them? FUCK NO. But do I completely hate the outdoors because of them? No.

More often than not, when I go hiking, or take my dog for a long walk, or take my bike out, I don’t notice a single bug. Seriously, bugs exist EVERYWHERE, but you kinda don’t notice them as much outside.

#2: Started doing INDOOR habits OUTDOORS.

I lived in a small studio when I was 24. I loved this studio, it was AMAZING. That being said, sometimes it felt stifled as hell. That led to me taking a book to a park nearby and reading. Then, I started to get bored in my studio while listening to podcasts, so I’d go on a nature walk while listening. Later, I moved home for a bit, and sometimes I just needed to get out, so I would go for a drive through a local forested area, and I’d listen to music.

Now, I live in a very modern mid-rise apartment, and I prefer to read outside rather than stay on the couch.. I love to take a notebook to the benches nearby and write. If I go 3 hours without walking around my block with headphones in while listening to an audiobook, I FEEL IMPRISONED.

A few times, I’ve been brave enough to do yoga outside. It just feels better. 

#3: Benefited from being outdoors in the Garden.

Not everyone has a yard. I, currently, do not have a yard. I have a lot of planters filled with ferns, NOW, but I used to have a yard, and I chose to garden. 

I actually loved gardening. I bought tools that were longer than normal so that I didn’t have to sit in the dirt (this had to do with bugs), and I planned my gardening time to be all day so that I could run inside and scream about a bug (#1 point doesn’t work if you are digging, then you are coming into their home, and the bugs will come for you).

Then, I started to plant tomatoes and peppers, I planted Pumpkins and they took over everything. They grew faster than I could eat them, but I felt so proud when I’d come home from work and have fresh basil for dinner. 

I wasn’t homesteading, but I could make myself salsa from my garden, sit with my dog on my porch, and I could read a book while watching the sunset. I felt like an Italian princess… in my very cheap, crooked house.

#4: Found out that “easy” hiking trails exist.

I want everyone to take out their smartphones. 

Go to the app store. 

Download All Trails.

This is not an ad, this is just me honestly saying that this app saves lives. In a story I will tell some other day in outdoorsy fails, this app would have saved my life. 

You can search ANY trail nearby, you can search by elevation, length, the shape of the trail, ease, dog walking, whether there are horses, etc. You can say, hey I am in X city, I want to find out where the nearest 5-mile hike with waterfalls and flowers which allows bikes is. 

BAM All Trails got your back.

My partner and I use this to find new ways to walk through Forest Park in Portland. We use it when we travel to find beautiful hikes. We use it to download maps when we are going into a national forest with terrible reception. It takes ALL of the fear out of the wilderness. 

Also, if you are someone with a tiny bladder, like me, it tells you if the hike has bathrooms. 

You’ll also see reviews where people will point out issues with the trail, poor conditions, or post beautiful photos to pump you up.

#5: Took a bike tour.

Everyone should act like a tourist in their own town or city here and there.

If you’re not comfortable with that, then the next time you travel somewhere, look to see if they do bike tours. 

I have done 3 or 4 bike tours in my own city. I did them as I was planning to move here as well as when visits occurred just to help get to know my city. As a nice side effect, I was able to see how beautiful the city is in places I wouldn’t usually go.

Portland is extremely bike-friendly, and by taking rides with people giving history lessons, I learned more about my city than I could have from a book. I learned about the helpful tools added into the infrastructure of the city to help bikers. I learned how much biking saves the environment and how local companies encourage people to ride bikes. 

Being outdoorsy doesn’t mean you are always in a forest, it just means getting outside and getting active.

You can appreciate the benefits of being outdoors without camping.

While going from indoor kid to outdoorsy adult is an awkward journey, and while it may be hard for all who knew you as a kid to reconcile this new image, it is possible, and honestly it is not that hard. 

I consider myself outdoorsy, one of my daily mantras is that I am most calm in nature, but I still have a long way to go. Try out the ideas above, and let me know what you find. Post them in the comments below how you’ve begun to experience the benefits of being outdoors.