January is the month when many of us start making intentions for the year ahead. Whether you're thinking about health and wellbeing, or how to best challenge your mind and body in 2020, spending more time outdoors is a great answer.
Need some help getting started? Here are a handful of resolutions to consider this year.
Take Care of Your Body
If you've ever had an injury that keeps you from doing the things you love, you know how disruptive and frustrating it can be. While it's impossible to guarantee a year of health, taking care of your body is a good start. A baseline of strong health will also help make your recovery faster if you do get stuck with an injury or illness.
This year, focus on eating healthy and moving your body in different ways every day. Take the time to train properly for big challenges like a long hike on the Muir Trail or that half-marathon you've had your eye on. Oh, and be sure to stretch, too!
Take Care of the Places You Visit
With outdoor recreation on the rise, places that are already well-loved are getting loved to death. Whether you're visiting Yellowstone in the rush of summer, or backpacking into the quiet depths of the Bob Marshall Wilderness, make a resolution to leave the place better than you found it.
Practice Leave No Trace ethics when you're recreating outside (and in your everyday life, too!), and take the small but meaningful action of picking up trash that isn't yours.
Speak out for public lands when they are under threat, and support organizations who do the heavy lifting to keep these places open for all of us.
Don't Do It for the 'Gram
This year, make a resolution to adventure for adventure's sake. There are many benefits to being outside, from the luxury of filling your lungs with fresh air to the pleasure of enjoying the views. Depending on how you chose to explore, there is also the physical challenge of pushing your body and mind, and the fun of spending time with friends and family.
Resist the urge to focus on capturing the experience for the glamour and status that comes with showing cool places on social media. Don't do it for the 'gram. Do it for you.
Give Back
Giving back to the world of adventure and outdoor recreation can take many forms. Maybe it's helping to clean up or build a trail. Perhaps it's volunteering to take kids on a camping trip, or teaching an outdoor skill to adults.
Another idea is to support the non-profits and other organizations who work to keep our lands healthy and our water clear, or who introduce people of all walks of life to the benefits of being active.
No matter whether you choose to do it with time or money, make a resolution to give back in 2020.
Welcome Everyone to the Outdoors
Make 2020 the year where you take action on making the outdoors inclusive and welcoming to people of all colors, genders, sizes, cultures, abilities, and sexual preferences.
I like to think of myself as non-judgmental in the outdoors, but talking with the community partners and athletes for The Outbound Collective's Everyone Outside initiative has shown me that I have a ways to go.
One of my weaknesses is that I expect others to experience the outdoors just as quietly as I do. I get miffed when others are loud, too boisterous, or (gasp!) enjoy the outdoors in a large group with a Bluetooth speaker blaring. And yet, getting out with a group, and with tunes, is one way that people the outdoors. What is your weakness?
This year, support underrepresented people in the outdoor space and help amplify their voices; however you can. Be a diversity advocate on the trails, on the wave, and in the boardroom. This is a resolution that I'll be tackling in 2020...won't you join me?
Cover photo by Jack Consenstein // Hike Byron Glacier
We want to acknowledge and thank the past, present, and future generations of all Native Nations and Indigenous Peoples whose ancestral lands we travel, explore, and play on. Always practice Leave No Trace ethics on your adventures and follow local regulations. Please explore responsibly!
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