In January, many of us make New Year’s resolutions, often centered around our health. Whether it’s losing weight, exercising more, or prioritizing our overall well-being, health-related resolutions are consistently popular. We strive to improve our health and make positive lifestyle changes as we kick off the new year. And for good reason. Our health greatly impacts our quality of life and our ability to care for ourselves and those who depend on us. It’s natural then, to resolve to take better care of ourselves as the calendar flips to January
One of the best ways to achieve health related goals is to spend more time in the great outdoors. There is a growing body of evidence that points to the many benefits of spending time in nature. The artificial environment that we have created in our industrial world often bombards us with visual and auditory cues, creating sensory overload. The screens that we spend so much time looking at each day can make it harder for us to go to sleep, shorten our attention spans, and draw us into hours of endless scrolling. Spending time in nature allows our minds to relax and get a break from all that overload. Studies show that it can help us concentrate more effectively, be more creative, and reduces feelings of burnout.
Time in nature is also correlated with a great number of physical benefits in addition to mental benefits. Simply being out in the great outdoors has been associated with reduced levels of the stress hormone cortisol as well as lower blood pressure. And that’s basically from just sitting and looking at trees. However, when you get outside, you naturally want to participate in other activities, be it walking, backpacking, rollerblading, kayaking, cycling, or climbing. Getting outside is a fantastic way to find new hobbies or enjoy ones that you already have. The options truly are endless.
While New Year’s resolutions are great, they often eventually run smack into the realities of the 9 to 5 grind that many of us participate in. Perhaps you may feel like yours is already starting to fade. In fact, the typical resolution usually only lasts a couple months, while barely any make it through the full year. Over time, the responsibilities associated with work, family life, and the rest of our lives make those well-meant resolutions fade over time, and we fall back into old habits. However, despite that seeming negativity, experts still point out that making goals is in fact good for us, and helps us improve ourselves, even if we don’t quite achieve what we set out to on January 1st .
What’s the key then? Well, to put it simply, it relies on setting realistic, achievable goals, that we can work on in our everyday lives. So while that awesome backpacking trip in the Grand Canyon or cycling trip in Europe might sound great, it’s really the everyday ordinary, more hum-drum experiences with nature that get us across the finish line. Consistency is key, and that’s why consistent access to green spaces is so important for our own individual health and the health of our communities.
I’ve been blessed to live in a few places that have great local parks. In Cincinnati, Ohio, I first enjoyed places like Ault Park and Mount Airy Forest. The former was a couple hundred acres, featuring a mix of well-manicured horticulture areas and shorter trails. This was the type of place with gardens and cherry blossoms that also doubled as a nice wedding venue. The latter was the largest city park, a manmade forest of about 1,500 acres. I loved to take jogs to Ault Park and walk its short trails in all four seasons. I also discovered a love of disc golf in Mount Airy Forest. I learned quite a bit about this park while searching for discs that I had managed to throw out of bounds!
My girlfriend at the time (now wife) lived in Louisville, Kentucky, and also enjoyed the local park scene in her neck of the woods. Cherokee Park was full of rolling hills and was beautiful in both fall and winter. Louisville Waterfront Park on the Ohio River was a fascinating mix of culture, event space and walking paths. In my opinion, the crown jewel became The Parklands at Floyds Fork. This was a grouping of 5 parks, each focused on varying activities and amenities, situated across 4,000 acres of land east of Louisville. There truly was an activity for everyone.
When I moved to Orlando, Florida, I again set out to discover what the local park scene had to offer. As you might anticipate, Florida parks are quite a bit different than Ohio parks, and often heavily feature water in some way or another. Bill Frederick Park at Turkey Lake has several disc golf courses which I enjoy. Barnett Park seems like it literally offers every activity under the sun, from BMX style biking to basketball, soccer and hiking. I also enjoy taking my dog for walks around the Greenwood Urban Wetlands. This dog friendly park has a nice half mile trail that winds its way around lakes and cypress trees.
The beauty of the local park system is that it allows one to spend time quickly and consistently outdoors. Sure, that National Park on the other side of the country is incredible, but how often are you really going to get to visit it? Local parks are a fantastic way to reap the everyday benefits of spending time in nature without breaking the bank or needing to take multiple days to visit a faraway locale. So what are some ways to maximize the benefit of these places? The list below is an excellent place to start:
- Picking up a new hobby – finding a fun new outdoor activity or hobby to try is a great way to keep you consistently coming back. When you are learning and having fun, spending time outdoors won’t feel like working out or a chore. There are a ton of options to choose from, and you can make it an event that you do on your own or in a group.
- Get involved – Building on item number 1 above, getting involved with a local group that also enjoys your activity is a great way to meet new people and ensure you keep coming back. Another excellent option is to volunteer your time to maintain or improve your own local park systems. This can take many different forms, but giving back gives one a sense of ownership and it feels great to help others.
- Make it part of your routine – It’s no secret that once things become a habit, they become much easier to maintain over time. Once something is no longer a habit though, well, let’s just say that the opposite is true as well. Making a point to get outside in some way is just one of the best ways to ensure that you keep coming back in the future.
Your ability to get outside though, is always somewhat limited by what you have available to you. That’s why advocating for green spaces in urban areas is also a critical part of enjoying them. You can’t use what you don’t have, and it’s up to all of us to work to ensure that all people have access to these areas and that they are maintained for future generations. We can all do this by volunteering in our local park system, organizing with like-minded individuals, speaking up, and voting for candidates in local elections whose values align with our own.
Science is clear that spending time in green spaces has multiple physical, mental, and emotional benefits. If you are feeling like your resolution to take better care of yourself this year is starting to wane, consider spending some time in the great outdoors to get back on track. Getting back on track and staying there though doesn’t require a trip to an exotic far away location. We can all reap the benefits of spending time outside by taking advantage of our local park system. This is the best, most consistent way to enjoy nature if you live in an urban area. So head out there today and see what is offered at your local park. You might just find a great new hobby and meet awesome new people to enjoy it with.