BEING OUTSIDE - A thing of the past?

When I look back [I'm only 31] at my childhood I can legitimately say that 'growing up' isn't like it used to be.  No I didn't walk up hill both ways to school in the snow.  No I didn't have to wake up at the crack of dawn to milk the cows or feed the chickens.  I didn't have to to plow the field while it was still cool in the morning before school.  I didn't have those chores.

Those are the things that my dad had to do when he was growing up.

But when I do look back,  I find that life was simple.  No No, not simple like you all older than me, but simple compared to what kids growing up now have [don't confuse simple with lazy].

We've all seen the movies where the future is a bunch of lazy people sitting on chairs living life through a headset of virtual reality oblivious of what is really going on around them.  I'm not saying we are at that point but we are a bunch of lazy people oblivious of what is really happening around us, or even to us.

A goal that I set this year and have stuck to most out of all the goals set is this: 

"Spend ONE hour outside each day."   

This isn't adding up the time it takes when I walk from the car to the grocery store entrance.  This isn't counting the minutes from one building on campus to another.  All of the goals that I set this year were goals that required intentional behavior.  Intentionally being outside for one hour each day.  I have not been successful every day but I find myself longing to be outside.  

I am an outdoors type of guy anyway.  I like to hunt, fish, play sports, run, garden, and all of the similar activities.  It's refreshing to be outside.  It reminds me of my childhood.

We did not have the video game systems that I have now.  We had a Playstation.  We had two games that I remember: Tony Hawk's skateboarding game and Resident Evil.  Oh yeah, we did have a Snowboarding Sample game as well.  You could run one slope and get a score.  The next person ran the same slope and try to beat the score.  And over and over it went.  That's it.

My childhood was spent outside.

Bike riding, playing 500 in the streets, playing in the snow, hunting and fishing with my dad, baseball, football, and playing basketball on crappy goals at the school playground are some of the things that I remember most.

Now that I think about it, I remember getting hurt a lot or someone else get hurt a lot from some of those things but it was worth it.  Are we that tough any more?  

I remember popping a blood vessel in my leg because I attempted to ride my bike down a rain washout made path down a rugged hill and crashed my bike.  I remember playing tag and tried to climb a fence and cut open my leg and had to let my buddy's mom fix me up.  I remember my brother falling from a tree branch only to hit another one on the way down and bust his chin up pretty bad.  Another time, my brother dove face first into a fire hydrant playing 500.  I remember bruised wrists because we lowered the basketball goals to where a 6th grader could dunk.  We were flying high. Pump up the jam!

So, this year I set out a goal to be outside more often.  As this year progresses my goals have grown as well.  I look at my son and wish for him a childhood that involves a lot of the same things that mine did.  Of course I want him to have cool things [daddy likes the cool things and gadgets too] but I want him to have more memories than, "do you remember that one time Bob the Builder did that on his show?"  

I want him to learn hands on.  

He loves being outside.  He watches from the window when I mow.  He always wants to go to the playground.  He loves to run around, ride his truck, his bike and play with other toys outside.  He likes to sit around the fire pit.  

Honestly, his love for this stuff just started this year.  

As my goals have transformed throughout the year - some of my hopes for him have become clearer.

Because of this one goal of mine, he has been one to benefit.  We have been able to have ten times more Daddy and Son time.  Our garden, which used to consist of a 10' x 5' raised bed is now a 20' x 15' garden.  We also now have four flower beds instead of just two.  We've been on a couple "jogs" together and are learning how to  keep our balance on a bike [hopefully he won't have a crash like the many I had].  

[From the first picking]

Being outside does not have to be a thing of the past.  I am not going to get a "Father of the Year" award.  I know people that are doing ten times better than I am at finishing their Goals, being a parent and all that.  

What I do know is that I am intentional.  To complete any goal you need to be intentional.  To be a good daddy you need to be intentional.  To be a good husband you need to be intentional.  To be a good anything you need to be intentional.

Don't use "intentional" interchangeably with "good intentions".  "Good intentions" is something completely different.  That is motivation behind something but intentional is the execution of those good intentions; done on purpose.

How do I think I'm doing with this goal?  Pretty good.  

Go do life on purpose!