Tag: activities

Walks In The Park

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“When seeking solitude, there is no better place than nature.”

With the constant temptations of technology, the Internet, endless entertainment options, and other distractions, it is all too easy nowadays to get caught up in work, school, and other commitments without ever taking time for yourself. It’s been scientifically and medically proven that your body and your mind need some time away from your daily stressors. It doesn’t have to be a long amount of time for solitude away from your home, or your workplace but just enough minutes or hours where you can re-charge your energy and re-capture your focus. When it comes to seeking out solitude and alone time, our options these days are becoming increasingly limited.

Some people choose yoga classes while other folks enjoy long workouts at the gym. While these activities in particular are healthy and enjoyable, they do not provide true solitude and quietness. Meditation can clear your head and allow you to control your thoughts better but it is not an active form of peace and serenity. For myself, to enjoy solitude, quiet, and a place to think; nothing truly beats a simple walk in the park for an hour or two. Clearly, I am not the first person to advocate for the joys and benefits of being in nature.

Henry David Thoreau, considered to be “the father of nature writing”, wrote many books including the famous novel, Walden, a reflection on the simplicities of living among nature in his cabin near Walden Pond in rural Massachusetts. In addition, his friend and fellow writer Ralph Waldo Emerson helped found the Transcendentalist movement partly due to the independence and intellectual stimulation, which he received from his retreats into the world of nature.

Whether you’re walking, jogging, running, or hiking in the park, it is going to be highly beneficial to you and your state of mind. It’s okay if you do it with a friend or a family member but it’s even better to do it by yourself. Taking a walk in the park or in the local nature preserve will allow you to clarify your thoughts, experience some solitude, and enjoy the world around you.

When you heed my advice from this blog post and decide to go for a walk in the park, remember to take the following steps before you go through with this idea:

  • Leave the iPhone, iPad, Laptop, MP3 player, and any other modern technological device at home. I know it can be really tempting to check your Twitter account or listen to the new Action Bronson album, but when you’re taking a walk through the park, this course of action is highly inadvisable. You’re there to observe nature, to listen to the birds’ chirping, to hear the bees buzzing, and to see the flowers begin to bloom in the springtime sunshine. If you wanted to be with your technological gadgets, the park is not the place to do that.
  • In the park or place of nature you go to, remember to find a part of the park that doesn’t have many or any people around. I write this piece of advice not to encourage you to be anti-social but to embrace a little bit of solitude in your life. A walk in the park will help you to focus your thoughts and clarify what you’re going through in your life. It’s refreshing and natural for people to be truly alone from time to time. This doesn’t mean you’re lonely and need someone to hang out with but that you’re using this walk or run in the park to concentrate and focus on the simple act of being in nature. Our distant ancestors did fine for themselves when they were on their own to hunt for animals or to gather food for their tribe. I think that you can survive on your own for an hour or two without needing any assistance or companionship.
  • When you’re on your walk or run in the park, it is important to go off the beaten path. There are set pathways and trails that you can follow in nature but it’s very enjoyable to go outside of your comfort zone instead by trying out new paths or walkaways that you have yet to discover. If there are certain areas of the park or preserve that you haven’t been to yet, go there! If there’s a massive hill or body of water in your path, don’t be afraid to hike over it or swim through it. The best adventures that a person can have are by taking the road not yet discovered or taken and that is true for other facets of life. Try to see and be in the new areas of the park that you haven’t been to yet. I promise that you won’t regret it later. You will be glad that you expanded your perception that you have of the natural park or preserve that you’re walking or running through.
  • Last but not least, please remember to take it all in. Spend some time just to admire the beauty of the sights that lie before you. If its’ a towering waterfall, a captivating sunset, or a stunning hillside view, remember to stop and just be present in the moment. It will be so quiet that you can hear the beating of your own heart and the sound of your own breath. You’re apart of nature just as nature is apart of you. As much as we try to avoid nature and natural living today, it’s still apart of whom we are as human beings. Nothing will change that and its’ apart of our nature since the early days of the hunter-gatherers. You only have one life to live and the more time you spend in natural settings, the better off you’ll be.

In conclusion, instead of that Sunday afternoon you spend at the bar watching your favorite sports team or at home catching up on the latest Netflix series, why not go to your local park instead? Do some walking or some jogging and eventually rest your legs to sit down at the nearest park bench. Take in the sights, sounds, and even the smells to remind yourself that there is more to life than just work or school. You’re apart of this world and the world is apart of you.

The Thrill of Skydiving

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“When the parachute opens up, you have to remember to hang on tight but also to enjoy the    great view.”

 The airplane starts to whirl its engines and ascend slowly up into the atmosphere. I’m as calm as a Hindu cow trying to remain unaware of what I’m about to do. My instructor who is tied at the hip straps me in as tight as possible as a necessary safety precaution. I am still in denial about what is about to happen to me but it’s too late now. There is simply no way to turn back now.

It was my 22nd birthday and I wanted to do something special for it. I told my parents, my friends, and others what I wanted to do to celebrate the occasion. They all thought I was crazy but it was the daredevil in me that wanted to make this become a reality. The head pilot of the small Cessna plane indicates that they’ve reached a cruising altitude of 13,000 Feet (4,000 Meters) and it’s time for us to jump out.                                                                            

One of the instructors opens the plane door and gives the go-ahead to his colleagues who are doing practice jumps like it was the most natural task in the world. You have to be somewhat crazy to be a skydiving instructor and do this day-in and day-out but 15 minutes later; I will completely sympathize with why they do what they do for a living. My instructor taps me on the shoulder and says that, “it’s go time!” We both stand up and move intermittently to the door opening.

I’m in the front with him secured to my back. I can’t help but peer out into the abyss below and realize what I’m about to do. The only actual moment of sheer terror I had was when we were about to jump out of the plane. My mere mortality is on the line and the cold air and wind of the Atlantic Ocean hits me like a brick. My instructor and I push ourselves out into the deep blue sky at a top speed. The feeling was similar to what’s been said before in movies about how in the deep reach of space, “No one can hear you scream.”                                                          

That is also true at the altitude of 13,000 feet (4000 meters). Shock and bewilderment leads to joy and exhilaration within seconds as I cascade down towards the vast and beautiful scenery below me. The vast Atlantic Ocean is to my left, Long Island with its’ sandy beaches and green parks right below, and the outline of New York City’s skyline is in the far distance to my right. It’s an absolutely picaresque view and is amazingly beautiful to behold. I have never felt more alive in my life and the rush of adrenaline pulses throughout my body. Nothing has come close to this moment before now and nothing has replicated it since then. I’ve never felt so free as you scream, yelp into the air the sounds and vibrations that no one will ever hear. Those two or three minutes of descent before the parachute is deployed last for what seemed like an eternity as I take in the view and remain at peace among the loud blowing of the wind, and the clear blue sky.

After the parachute successfully opens up, I hang on tight as I come down smoothly with my instructor from the highs of launching myself out of a moving plane, and come to the realization of how the sea, the land, and the greenery really is. It’s the closest I’ll get to playing the role of an astronaut and that’s fine with me. What I have done is mundane compared to the years of training, and expertise, which they must achieve before being able to fly into space.

The instructor asks me about how I’m doing during the descent back to the landing zone and I simply reply, “Amazing. Absolutely amazing.” To see from the air where I grew up and spent my formative years from so high up is a great perk added on to this wild and unique experience. Descending to the ground was probably the trickiest part but it was incredible to be able to parachute down to our landing spot in only seven minutes time. My father meets me down near the landing zone where we took off only twenty minutes ago and asks me, “Well…How was it?” I tell him that it was, “The rush of a lifetime.”

It has been over two years ago now when I first decided to try my hand at skydiving. I don’t regret it and I look back on the experience very fondly. It is inherently risky and I do not recommend it to everyone. If you are not a thrill-seeker or a risk-taker, then it may not be for you to begin with. However, if you want to feel the most alive you’ve ever been, conquer a fear of heights, experience a breath-taking view or to really try something new, I cannot recommend skydiving enough. I’ll always remember the exhilaration and jubilation that I felt when I landed from being thousands of feet in the air mere minutes ago.

I’ve been lucky enough to ride in a hot air balloon while watching the sunrise, or parasail close to a group of islands, and drive a jetski at 60 MPH (100 km/h) but none of these experiences still compare to the thrill of skydiving. It’s one of the greatest thrills that you can ever have and I highly recommend this activity to my readers. Just remember to be safe, choose a reputable company, take deep breaths, and make sure you know what you’re getting into. I promise you that you won’t regret the experience or forget the memories that you made from going through with it. If the elderly folk in their 60’s and 70’s who were in my group on that sunny day in October two years ago can skydive at their advanced age, then so can you!