TEN TINY THINGS TO DO OUTSIDE TODAY

This is a post for anyone who struggles, especially at this time of year when the days keep getting shorter and shorter, to spend a little bit of time outside each day.

It’s not bad to admit that making time for the outdoors can be difficult. Even as someone who has such a love and passion for being outside, it sometimes feels impossible. It might be that you’ve got a very long working day, a full day of travel, or have family responsibilities that mean you have little time to yourself.

I strongly believe that my day – and especially my mood – is better when I carve out a bit of time for the outside. Which is why I started to set myself the challenge of spending One Hour Outside every day, and it’s why I try and encourage you to do the same.

Making the Outdoors a Daily Habit

My eighth One Hour Outside Challenge got underway earlier this week. Even if you’re reading this post later, One Hour Outside is unquestionably for life and not just for November. With that in mind, I thought I’d put together a really (really) short list of things you could do outside, to hopefully help get you out – now.

Consider this both a starting point if you feel you need one, but also a reminder that getting outside doesn’t have to be some big and adventurous expedition. It can – it should – be more about the little things we do at or close to home, every day. Forget specialist equipment, months of training, or weeks away from home – these are things that will help make the outdoors a daily habit.

Here are ten things you can do, right now, on this very day, with little or no preparation. You could even do them all on the same day, they are that small and simple.

Why ten? Well it’s just a nice number, isn’t it?! I’m sure you can think of many other similarly simple things you or others could do to ensure a little bit of fresh air and natural light today. And that’s the point – just to get you started. Feel free to add your ideas in the comments below.

Ten Tiny Things to do Outside Today

01 Cup of Tea?

Tea tastes better outdoors. Take five minutes to drink your perfect brew on your doorstep, on a bench in the park, or leaning against a wall outside your office. Use it as an opportunity to think through something that needs your attention, to meditate with the sounds of the outdoors, or simply to watch the world go by as you sip.

02 Picnic Time   

We eat meals anyway, so take one outside. As the clocks have only just gone back, the mornings are ideal for breakfast in the garden – make up some porridge or just grab a banana and eat it somewhere other than within four walls. Or, maybe you’re stuck to a desk all day and only get a 20-minute lunch break? Take your sandwiches outside and make that break from the inside as well as from the computer.

03 Around the Block

Take a walk, run, wheel or some other form of human powered transport around the block – from your or your workplace front door. This is especially good if you can make time for it before the busiest part of your day begins, because getting natural light and a bit of exercise in the morning is said to be a very powerful addition to our day. Going around the block is more than just walking to the car (unless you intentionally park the car a little further away than you need to), it’s a purposeful opportunity to be outside.

04 Feed the Birds

If you have a garden, or a window ledge, spend time tending to a bird feeding station. There is something very special about watching the birds come and go as the days get shorter. The birds don’t even wait for me to finish putting the feeders back up to start lining up – I wonder if I might get dive bombed one of these days! Got more than two minutes? Head out somewhere with a pair of binoculars and see what you can spot in the wild.

05 Find a Geocache

Geocaching is a great way to get outside with purpose, even if you haven’t got many minutes. Start with the ones really close to your home, then move onto the ones close to your friend’s homes, maybe even a sneaky lunchtime search from work. There are three within five (ish) minutes’ walk of my house, which gives me one a week for the month. Some are much harder to find than others, that’s the point, but it’s all about the search. Or if you want something similar but different… Pokemon Go is still a thing.  

06 Grow Something

The lovely thing about nature is that you can do things to help make more of it over autumn and winter – there is plenty to do outside in the garden if you have one. Cut the grass, deadhead and prune the roses, get those spring bulbs planted, fill a pot or two with pansies for a bit of autumn colour (I love having colour by the front door), or simply spend a few minutes keeping things tidy. Create and curate your own little patch of nature, however small, that you can visit and enjoy every day.

07 Litter Pick

We shouldn’t have to do this, but sadly every road and path in the UK has litter on the ground, in the bushes, or sometimes even hanging from trees. At least it gets us outside! Grab some gloves and a carrier bag and spend two minutes making the area around you a little nicer. Get involved with The 2 Minute Foundation and do a quick litter pick wherever you happen to be – on your own or take some friends or colleagues with you for something a little bigger.

08 Tree Time

With trees being the real star of the autumn show, it seems only fair to have one of my ten tiny things to do outside dedicated to them. Whether you get out to hug a tree, climb a tree (definitely not just for kids), collect a few leaves for a display, practice your tree identification skills, or simply enjoy looking at a tree up close, make your outside include something tree related. Just think, if you climb a tree every day this month, you’ll be an expert tree climber by the time 1 December rolls around!

09 Do some star gazing from your garden.

With the nights arriving early in the evening, it’s the ideal time to get out with the specific intention of looking up at the stars. Use the Night Sky app (with the sound off, the app is great but the soundtrack is annoying) or similar, to help you learn about the constellations you can see from your doorstep, back garden, or local park. If you have more than a couple of minutes, head somewhere out of town and see the sky do its magic. Take it one step further and try some night sky photography – another one of those things you’ll be expert at if you practice every day.

10 Read a Book

Doing things you’d normally do inside outside is an excellent way to create a habit. Take a book, magazine, or even that paper you really should have read last week, outside, instead of sitting on your sofa or office chair. I mean, you could even spend five minutes reading another Splodz Blogz post (maybe my Coast to Coast Adventure Journal?!), if you don’t have a book to hand!

These ten tiny things to do outside today might seem small, but they are mighty when it comes to helping you build a daily outside habit. Pick one and make it the next thing you do today – or challenge yourself to do all ten in one afternoon if you fancy it.

If you need some more ideas, there are 50 in this post from a few years ago, and 71 in my GetOutside Activity Challenge long list. If you are looking for some ideas that might involve a little more effort, be sure to come back for my ten small adventures for short days post, coming soon.