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Get Out

February 22nd, 2024 (8 months ago) • 2 minutes

GET OUT NOW. Not just outside, but beyond the trap of the programmed electronic age so gently closing around so many people…. Go outside, move deliberately, then relax, slow down, look around. Do not jog. Do not run…. Instead pay attention to everything that abuts the rural road, the city street, the suburban boulevard. Walk. Stroll. Saunter. Ride a bike, and coast along a lot. Explore…. Abandon, even momentarily, the sleek modern technology that consumes so much time and money now…. Go outside and walk a bit, long enough to forget programming, long enough to take in and record new surroundings…. Flex the mind, a little at first, then a lot. Savor something special. Enjoy the best-kept secret around—the ordinary, everyday landscape that rewards any explorer, that touches any explorer with magic…all of it is free for the taking, for the taking in. Take it. take it in, take in more every weekend, every day, and quickly it becomes the theater that intrigues, relaxes, fascinates, seduces, and above all expands any mind focused on it. Outside lies utterly ordinary space open to any casual explorer willing to find the extraordinary. Outside lies unprogrammed awareness that at times becomes directed serendipity. Outside lies magic

—John Stilgoe, Outside Lies Magic

I remember there was a period of time when I was just stuck at home. Watching movies online, building things on the computer, communicating online - I was very reluctant to go outside. It was my comfort zone and where I felt safe.

Slowly, it became a routine but it made my life feel empty. I was just going through the motions and not really living. I was just existing.

This year, I made a promise to myself to experience more and thus to get out more. It's important to get down and hustle during your early age but I think it's also important to slow down and enjoy the little things in life. Pick up something, talk to someone, stroll in the park or your local museum, just get out of the house! It's definitely exhausting but it's rewarding.