Little Adventures

A fairly mundane & innocent story

Frustration

I was feeling down and lost all day, and I wasn’t doing anything to help myself out of it. Moving to a new place without any specific direction, being deep in the countryside without too many people around (except my lovely parents), and not having immediate access to the things I want to be doing left me in a bit of a negative funk.

Instead of immediately doing the healthy thing and getting outside for some exercise, I dealt with the bad juju by sitting around doomscrolling and listening to loud music. Kind of like a surly teenager. Not the best way to bring myself up out of a bad mood…

The weather was beautiful, but I was entirely unmotivated. Sat in my parents house, all I could think about was being somewhere else. Ideally, being out in some city with motivated parkour people to drag me into a good vibe. This unfortunately wasn’t a possibility.

I have nothing to complain about. The area I grew up in is absolutely beautiful. There’s no end of rolling hills, diverse fields and various trees. Endless adventures to be found, if you know what to look for. The problem is, you need to go out and find them. Adventures don’t just present themselves to you on a plate.

It took me all afternoon, but I eventually dragged myself out of the house. First call of duty was to walk the dogs. Although not particularly adventurous, it’s an external reason to get outside. I left for their walk grumpy, and came back slightly less grumpy.

This was the catalyst I needed for the rest of the afternoon. I put the dogs away, took a bike out of the shed, and rode off with no real aims. I left my phone on airplane mode so I could take photos but avoid distractions, and rode down the hill into the countryside.

Adventures

After bombing down a hill on the bike, I was already feeling much better. The sun was shining and the temperature was perfect. Spring was arriving in force! I set myself an objective to give the adventure some structure: climb at least five trees. It was a small goal, but gave the outing a bit of excitement and structure. I cycled on, past a stream and some tennis courts, up towards a field of sheep.

This is where the real adventure started. After a thin, tree lined path and lifting my bike over a fence, I was in my first field. I spotted what could potentially be my first tree on the far side next to a fence, and headed over. The tree was the ideal warm up tree. Not too tall with lots of strong looking branches. I parked my bike, kicked off my shoes and set about climbing.

Bare feet up a tree

It wasn’t the easiest tree to enter. The lowest branch was only reachable by precariously balancing on a barbed wire fence. The entry was a bit sketchy, but after this it was plain sailing. I reached as high as I could reach and settled there for a while. It was peaceful. Above the world and being gently moved around by the wind. There’s something about being up a tree that brings an overwhelming sense of peace and clarity.

the perfect tree branch

Being barefoot elevates the experience even more. Although it sounds pretty hippie, having the soles of your feet allows you to feel much more connected and present, to the tree and the moment. Apparently it might have something to do with positive and negative charges? I cant be bothered to google it.

After pondering in this tree for a while, I decided to climb down. I jumped on my bike again, cycled up a nearby hill and hunted for more trees to climb. I started with a sketchy one, having to crawl up a long branch, and then navigate various rotten and potentially dangerous limbs to get further. This tree really gave me a good buzz of fear. The reachable branches were high from the ground and it was tough to find a comfortable chilling position. Perfect to wake up and boost into the present.

A lone sheep.

I climbed a couple more, before finally settling in one particular tree. There was a thick branch that wasn’t too high from the ground, easy to reach, and comfortable to sit on. Ideal! I must have stayed up in this tree for at least half an hour, vibing with my thoughts and enjoying the feeling of being above the world.

At one point, a rogue sheep ambled underneath me. I’m sure it noticed me, but didn’t perceive me as a threat. I found this to be a sign of peace. I haven’t seen many sheep on their own before. They’re herd animals and follow each other around like, well, sheep. I wonder what this curious individual was up to. Did it have some sort of quest? Did it need a moment of space away from the herd to recharge its social battery? Perhaps it was a scout, hunting for greener pastures for the benefit of the herd. Was it lost? For all I know, the sheep also just wanted an easy and innocent adventure to reset and feel present. Was the sheep some sort of shamanic reflection, a metaphorical mirror sent by nature? Or was I simply projecting myself onto the sheep?

I’ll never know.

Moving forward

Sadly, all adventures have to come to an end. I climbed down from the tree, put my shoes on, jumped on my bike and headed back home for dinner. I was feeling far better than when I started. My whole day had been flipped around by going out and experiencing the world.

In my mind, the nicest part is that nothing really happened. I focused on being present and finding joy in small things, and I gained momentary happiness and an enormous mood boost. For such a small experience, I gained so much. It was exactly what I needed today.

It’s common knowledge that getting outside and doing some exercise is good for mental health, as much as screen time is bad. But it’s one thing to hear this from other people, but another to experience it myself.

I wrote this piece to remind myself that if I feel like shit, get outside. Don’t question it. Don’t procrastinate and waste time on your phone. Get outside and discover something. Climb some trees, walk a new direction or hang out with a sheep. It will always make you feel nicer.

The world is a beautiful place and adventures are always sitting just around the corner.

<3