Dear Curiosity Journal,
After a few hours of computer work, I was feeling restless to go outside, as an idyllic spring day was just burning away right outside my window. The sunlight and breeze hit my skin and my nervous system shifted as I wandered into the woods to look for mushrooms. This is one of the highlights of my alternative benefits package. I may not have PTO, but I have the freedom to go outside. I recall the past misery of sitting in school and office buildings on sparkling spring days, staring out the window, wishing I was anywhere but inside. I wonder what our world would look like if people could just go outside when they wanted to, with no particular agenda – to listen to the birds, look for wildflowers, put their palm on a tree trunk, sit on a rock, or close their eyelids into the wind for a moment. Would we be devastatingly less productive? What a radical notion! Or perhaps the opposite would manifest. Mother Nature might just split up our monotony enough to give us a second wind, a renewed will. Maybe employers fear that once sprung from our desks, we will not return. It was true for me. Once Mother Nature won me over, I was ruined for domesticated employment. I know there are kindred spirits out there today, counting down the minutes until they can hit the door and run into the wild.
~Joy
