Enjoying the Outdoors

It’s that time of year again. As the weather warms up, it’s a perfect time to get outside and enjoy the great outdoors! Hiking and camping are fun activities, great exercise for the body, stimulation for the mind, and food for the soul. You can engage your body in running and climbing, engage your mind in studying the plants and wild life, and then take time to just drink in the beauty of nature.

Going shirtless is a great way to enhance the experience. Not just because it more comfortable — although it is, especially in hot weather — but because it helps you feel more at one with nature. It is like returning to a more primitive state. For many, it is symbolic of casting off the stresses and constraints of modern life, if just for a while, to experience true recreation.

Of course, the outdoors is also a great place to begin experiencing greater freedom with going shirtless and greater acceptance of your own body, because it is socially acceptable, often even expected. But it can also be a particularly enriching experience. And it can be a great bonding experience among friends, as well.

So I want to encourage you this summer to go seek out the wild spaces, peel off your shirt, soak in the majesty, push away cares and worries, and experience a unique oneness with nature. You won’t regret it.