Breckenridge, Colorado, located on a ten mile stretch of the Rocky Mountains. The Rockies sit high above sea level, hitting 14,000 ft in most areas. They stretch from Central New Mexico in the South, to the Liard River, Canada in the North.
The Rocky Mountain range actually represents more than 100 separate mountain ranges, rather than one uninterrupted chain. The mountain range, which holds the Continental Divide, draws visitors from all around the world who wish to climb it's peaks, study it's wildlife or take in it's views.
I was lucky enough to visit Breckenridge during the holidays. Areas such as the Rockies never fail to impress me with their natural beauty, areas like this seem to have more than their fair share of sky than anywhere else and they always bring meaning to the term, "big country".
Spending time in the outdoors always leaves me feeling refreshed, energised and brings about a cleansing of the soul. Living amongst such giants, even for a short time, helps to put life into focus and can give a renewed perspective to your worries and troubles.
There is definitely something invigorating about breathing in crisp, clean air, air that doesn't carry the heaviness of concrete surroundings or the toxicity of a bustling metropolis. For the length of your visit, you feel at one again with mother nature, as if you're drawing on some kind of primeval instinct.
And this brings me nicely onto the subject of this weeks blog, "are we spending too much time indoors, and if so at what cost"?
We are less active now than we've ever been, yet sitting here typing this, I can't help but feel slightly hypocritical. With our advances in communication over the passed few decades, we now have on-demand television, social networking and computer games so realistic you need never leave the house again.
But what is the cost of all these advances, have we lost our raw and elementary connection to mother nature?
After a little digging on the internet (more hypocrisy) the advantages of spending time in the great outdoors are numerous. Not only can outdoor pursuits reduce stress, they can also reduce recovery times from illness, fight against cancer and boost your mood.
With a little more digging (yet more hypocrisy) the effects on humans of being at one with mother nature can be even more profound. Research suggests that people become less self focused, they begin to put the welfare of others before themselves, in other words, people become altruistic.
And it doesn't end there!
People start to reject consumerism and become anti-capitalistic, material possessions lose their relevance and a new importance is placed upon relationships. People focus more on self enhancing values and re-discover their moral compass.
So, in summary being outdoors can not just improve your health, but it can also make you a better person, a win win situation.
But what does all this mean to me, you may be asking yourself?
Well, firstly let me put your mind at ease.
It doesn't mean you'll be manning an anti-capitalist barricade outside a meeting of the G8. It doesn't mean you'll be dressed in a black boiler suit, wearing a gas mask smashing up your local HSBC shop frontage. And, it doesn't mean that you should sell all your worldly possessions and move to a log cabin in the Alaskan wilderness.
What it does mean (I know I'm stating the obvious) is that we should all try and spend a little more time in the company of mother nature. The next time you're feeling the weight of the world on your shoulders, take a walk amongst hills, streams, rivers, trees or fields and allow your cares to drift away.
We are lucky in the UK, in that more of our mountains are accessible without specialist equipment or training, and because of the size of our little island, we can usually be within an hour or two's drive of a National Park.
When was the last time you visited one?
Feel the breeze, breathe the air and reflect...
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