Episode 154: Enjoy The Outdoors All Year Long
**FULL LIST OF GREAT LAYERS AND ACCESSORIES HERE**
Hello. Welcome back to the show. You’re listening to episode 154 of Live Free Creative. This episode is all about enjoying the outdoors all year round as we’re headed into fall.
Right now, I know a lot of us are sort of loving that crisp feeling in the air because it’s new and feels fun. And in a month or two, if you’re like me, you may start feeling like you have to stay inside or feeling a little grumpy about the cold.
I wanted to explore in this episode, some different strategies for loving being outside in the sun, rain, snow, hot, cold, humid. I’m going to focus a little bit on colder weather because that’s where we’re headed, but I’m going to share a few ideas for warm weather outdoors enjoyment.
I’m thrilled to let you know that today’s episode is brought to you by the Propane Education and Research Council (PERC).
And for our segment today, I got to hop on a quick call with Ingrid from PERC to learn a little bit more about what they do, what their mission is. And I got some really great tips for propane use and storage that I wanted to pass along to you.
Let’s listen in to the call.
Hi there, Ingrid. Welcome to Live Free Creative. How are you doing?
Ingrid: I’m great. It’s great to be here Miranda. It’s so great to chat with you.
I’m so excited for you to share some of your insights with the Live Free Creative podcast audience today. So like I mentioned in your introduction, you work for PERC.
Tell me a little bit about what the goals are of the council. What do you do? What are your goals?
Ingrid: We’re an industry funded organization. And one of our main goals is safety. That’s both workforce safety for the people who work in the propane industry, but also consumer safety. So we placed a high impact on quality, world-class safety information using and working with propane. And we’re also really focused on innovation, new and improved uses for propane and efficiency. And then we do consumer education about propane and how you can use propane in your life.
Awesome. So kind of a multifaceted approach, you’re touching all different parts of the industry from how propane is created and captured to how it’s being used.
In a consumer setting, like with me and my barbecue in my backyard, as well as in fleet vehicles and things like that, which we chatted for a little bit last weekend. One thing that you said that I was so interested in was a use of propane that I had never heard of. Can you tell my audience a little bit more about how propane is being used in school bus transportation.
Ingrid: Yes. So school buses propane’s use in school. Buses is one of my favorite applications. Today we have 22,000 school buses safely bringing kids to and from school, they are in 49 states across the country. And so that means over a million kids rode to school this morning on a propane school bus.
And the reason why it’s so great is I remember being a kid and that the loud diesel bus and that puff of black smoke, that’s not good for lungs and especially not good for little lungs. And if you think about how tall kids are, they’re kind of right there at that tailpipe level. So with propane, we eliminate that.
And then the other really great thing in addition to those environmental benefits is that propane’s really affordable for a school district. There was a study that said if we replaced all the diesel buses in the United States, we could hire 23,000 more teachers.
Yeah, absolutely. It makes me so curious whether or not that something that the Richmond school district is using now that I know about this, I’m like gonna do a little digging.
And for those of you listening, if you have school aged kids, it’d be interesting to just find in your area if propane school buses are something your kids are already using, or it’s something maybe you could ask about at your school or your school area looking into, because it sounds like it has major benefits for the whole community.
Ingrid: We have a landing page on our website that you can check out. It’s BetterOurBuses.com and it has some information about why we use propane buses. And then we also you can see how many buses are used in your state. So I don’t think there’s any actually in Richmond proper, but in the surrounding areas there, definitely.
Yes. I sound like I need to have a meeting with the superintendent, and I will make sure that that link is in the show notes so that you can check out your area.
So one of the other roles that you mentioned of the council is consumer safety in my home. My family uses propane for our barbecue. We use propane for our fire pit in the backyard. Every time we go camping, we use propane for our camp stove. We just bought a little vintage camper that runs on propane. We interact with it really regularly.
And I’m curious, what are some of the safety tips, both for use and for storage that you’d recommend to my audience?
Ingrid: The first and most important thing is to always follow the manufacturer’s instructions for whatever type of appliance or piece of equipment that you’re using, because they’re important safety. The other piece is always remain present. Don’t turn your fire pit on and walk away, or your grill or anything else. Remain present with what you have going. Those are two really important pieces.
Make sure your grill is pulled out away from your home. That’s really important as you prepare to use your grill.
When you think about your cylinders and you need to go and exchange exchange a cylinder or a propane tank. And when you transport that in your car, make sure they’re in an upright position. Don’t leave a tank in your car for very long. If you’re going to exchange, go and do that take care of that job.
Keep and store your cylinders outdoors. Don’t put them in the garage or shed or in your basement. And if you ever have any questions or concerns, talk to your propane supplier, they’re an incredible resource.
They are people in your community. So ask them the questions and they’ll help keep you safe as well.
I know one reason, among others, one reason that I’m really drawn to using propane and seeking it out when I’m looking for like new things to add to my own yard and my own lifestyle is because of this sustainability.
Tell me a little bit more about how and why propane is more sustainable or a cleaner energy source than some of the others that might be available to us.
Ingrid: Sure. So propane is affordable energy that doesn’t require major investments in infrastructure. It’s inherently very portable. As we talked about with being able to move it and even small cylinders for your own use, it’s environmentally friendly because it’s a low carbon fuel and energy source and using propane is a great way to reduce emissions today and still meet your energy.
It is a by-product of natural gas refining that’s primarily its source, but it’s a low carbon energy today. That’s reducing emissions in the community.
That’s so interesting. So to wrap up, why don’t you tell me a few of your favorite, your personal favorite uses for propane as a mom, as a consumer.
One of my favorites is a fire table. I love to sit outside with a fire and I think one of the benefits of a propane fire table is you can just turn it on and off, right? It’s so easy to have all that ambiance of being able to sit and enjoy a glass of wine with friends or some time with your kids outside. I love that you don’t have to worry about “Did I get that fire out?” And you don’t smell. I just think that’s a great use.
I think as it’s starting to get to be fall a patio heater. I love a patio heater to extend that outdoor time with again, with family and friends. I think those are awesome. So those are how I like to use propane.
Both such great ideas. I think my initial introduction to propane as a little kid was camping and backpacking. My dad would always pack those trusty Coleman cylinders in our packs. We would use them for cooking a lot of times in Utah, depending on when you’re hiking and camping. There are fire bans because of the risk of fire and how dry the climate is. So we could use our propane.
And we definitely take our propane camp stove every time we go out camping. And then of course, barbecue, you know, the, having a great propane barbecue is such a central part of our lifestyle. We cook out as often as we can year round. That’s one of my favorites.
What are some other things that people might not know about yet?
Ingrid: The majority of the appliances in your home can run on propane. So you can cook indoors. So your stove. Drying your clothes, the clothes dryer, fireplace, the water heater. Your furnace, your boiler, keeps your house nice and cozy, warm in the winter.
Keeps the water hot for all of the long showers and baths, a pool heater. You can heat your pool with propane. You can extend pool season.
Definitely we’ll need one of those in the future someday. I think everyone would love that. I love just the idea of thinking that direction and starting to be a little bit more thoughtful and intentional when we have a choice, if we can choose a more sustainable source of energy and include propane in our lifestyle in more ways.
Consider it and look into it and see how we could make that happen. But do you have any final thoughts? I’m so grateful to be able to chat with you and share some of this information with all of my listeners.
Ingrid: No, was great to be here. Thank you.
If you have specific questions, make sure that you chat with your local propane providers, because they’ll be able to answer a lot of those as well. Thank you so much. Thank you.
Isn’t Ingrid wonderful. So fun to be able to spend a little bit of time chatting with her and getting some insight and some tips for you. This incredible sustainable energy source.
Main Topic: Tips For Enjoying The Outdoors All Year Round
Now, in today’s episode, I’m going to give you some tips for enjoying the outdoors all year round. I think many of you know that I absolutely adore being outside at something that is gratefully a huge part of my everyday lifestyle.
And as the weather turns colder, it tends to get more difficult. I find myself making more excuses and finding more barriers to spending time outside. Are you the same? I know some people relish that chilly or frostier temperatures, and some people feel that same way about the hot, you know, really warm outside temps.
I tend to be more of a lizard. I could find myself standing on a rock in a desert and be completely content. That said, I do love that transitions of the seasons. And I think they’re also beautiful. So I wanted to, for my benefit and for yours, just shake it out and think about, and really come up with some good strategies for enjoying the outdoors, even when it’s cold.
And I’ll share a couple little tips for enjoying the outdoors even when it’s hot at the end of the episode.
Spending Time Outside Is Good For You
I think is really important as a starting point to mention that spending time outside isn’t just a nice-to-have feature of our lifestyles. There is a growing body of research that shows that spending at least two hours, 120 minutes outside per week, substantially increases are health and psychological wellbeing.
And according to this study done by Matthew White of the European Center for Environment and Human and Health at the University of Exeter, he found that that two hours is really like a hard and fast line that people in the study who didn’t reach at least that 120 minutes outside per week didn’t have any of the benefits of the group that did.
So we’ve known that spending time outside can be good for people’s health and wellbeing, but it’s not until these last few years, even 10, 15 years, that there has been so much research into that definitive and measurable, positive effects on our bodies and minds.
Just a couple of these that I want to mention are that spending time in nature, as long as people feel safe in the environment outside, is a huge antidote for stress. Is stress something that any of you struggle with? I know it’s something that I struggle with sometimes and being able to have such a simple antidote is really powerful.
Spending time in nature can lower our blood pressure, reduce our stress hormone levels, reduce our nervous system arousal, enhance immune system function, increase self-esteem, and reduce anxiety. And for those who struggle with any type of attention deficit disorder or any type of aggression, those tendencies lessen in natural environments, that also helps us increase our rate of healing in our body.
In another recent study, some psychiatric unit researchers found that being in nature, reduced feelings of isolation, promoted, calm, and lifted. I’ll make sure that the paper that I’m referring to is linked in the show notes so that you can read these and more of the benefits of spending time in nature.
When it’s easy for us, it’s really easy, right? When the springtime comes and is there it’s beautiful and there’s flowers outside and we want to go on a little hike or during the summer when our kids are out of school and the weather is nice and we can go to the park or we go swimming and we’re naturally spending time outside because the circumstance is conducive to the outdoor environment.
But what about the other parts of the year? The days that it’s raining the whole seasons that it feels either too hot or too cold to comfortably spend time outside. What do we do then? How then do we push through or overcome some of those obstacles to enable ourselves to spend that time in nature and reap the incredible benefits that come through that?
I’m going to share four tips or strategies for enjoying your time in the cold. And four tips or strategies for enjoying your time in the heat.
Enjoying The Outdoors When It Is Cold
Let’s start with the cold because that is what’s coming up upon us. At least if you live in the United States or in the Northern hemisphere, we’re moving from summertime into fall right now, actually last week, I think was the fall Equinox.
1- Layers
We’re going to start with number one, which is layers. Now we’ve all heard this before, right? Like fall is layers time or, you know, throw on your sweater vest. I’m going to be really specific with you when it comes to your layers. I want you to think of your layers as a caramel center, chocolate dipped ice cream bar.
This is like a Magnum Bar or a Haagen-Dazs. Some of my favorites have those almond slivers in the chocolate. You got the picture, right? You know what I’m talking about? Where it’s that crunchy, outer layer, a soft ice cream layer. And then in the center, you’ve got some sort of ooey, gooey caramel situation.
When you think of your winter layers as a three part carmel center, chocolate coated, ice cream bar, you will not go wrong.
Let’s start with the ooey gooey center. The caramel in your ice cream bar in your winter layers is going to be the base. This is some sort of wicking soft sort of close to the body material.
What you want to try to stay away from in the winter base layer is cotton fibers. This goes against what our. Natural inclination might be because we probably have some easy to wear t-shirts and cotton things from the summer that we think, oh, let’s just put that on the bottom.
If you’re trying to stay warm in the outdoors in the winter, you want the layer closest to your skin to wick the moisture away from your skin and not hold it against your body, because if it holds moisture against your skin in the cold, you’re going to get cold.
So while I’ll always promote more natural materials and natural base layer in the winter would be something like wool. And there’s a lot of really great products and long underwear that are wool really thin, nice wool base layers. I say, well, and you probably think something itchy and scratchy. No, there are some companies that create really nice wool base layers and silk as well. I don’t see that as often.
The other huge one in the outdoor community is synthetic based layers. And while I love the idea of promoting all natural materials all the time, synthetic based layers have been engineered in a way that they actually they’re like performance. So they’ll pull that moisture away from your body while insulating your, your skin and keeping you warm in the show notes.
I’ll link a couple of my favorites for like our big time activities like skiing or hiking. Those types of things you’ll want like long underwear, like ankle length, wrist length, those types of things. That’s a great base layer, but companies like Patagonia and Cotopaxi, they make warm base layers that you could wear as a regular t-shirt and also throw your secondary and tertiary layers on top of them.
So you don’t have to look like you’re going skiing if you’re just going for a walk around the block or going on a stroll. You do want to think of your first layer, what’s against your skin, as being something that will wick away then waster that you create as you’re walking around and sweating. So that is our ambiguous caramel center. We want something against our skin that’s cozy wool or synthetic. That’s going to wick away.
Then we stir our next. That thick, nice creamy ice cream layer is going to be our insulation layer. Your insulation layer can look like a fleece jacket. It can look like a puffy vest. It can look like a nice sweater.
This is where you actually start to build some warmth and where that warmth comes in. Now in my family growing up, I’m laughing because I’m just thinking of my dad in his closet. Vests. I grew up hearing that a vest is one of the most versatile things you can add to your winter wardrobe. And my dad was right of Patagonia fleece vest, or like a puffy vest or a zippered vest that keeps your core warm.
It keeps your vital organs warm where all, you know, your heart’s pumping and your tummy and all things stay warm and you still have your arms for breathability. So you have a tendency to not overheat as quickly when you’re wearing a vest, especially if you’re going on a hike or going walking around the block or taking the dog out, having the installation stadia core and having the breathability of having your arms not be covered by this insulation layer is really nice.
So I have a couple vests that I love. In fact, I have a fleece vest. It was a Patagonia fleece vest, one of their incredible fleece vest that was made with recycled bottles. They’ve been doing that for years. They were like the first major company to figure out how to recycle plastic bottles into this performance fleece.
I got this vest in Sun Valley when I was on a babysitting trip when I was 16 years old, I’m 38. Now this is a 22 year old vest that I still wear every single winter. I have it in my closet. It’s neon yellow. So I mostly wear it when I’m running in the winter or biking in the winter these days. But these are things that you can invest in and use for years and years and years, if you buy a high quality, nice things and hang on to them.
They don’t have to be like trendy fashion pieces. Your fleece vest might not make it under the cover of Vogue. It will give you warmth when you’re spending time in the winter.
So you may want to consider a vest if it’s not something that’s part of your winter wardrobe already, but you want to think of this insulation layer as where the warmth actually resides. The base layer, your ooey-gooey caramel center is probably not going to keep you very warm.
This insulation layer. This is what’s going to keep you warm.
So when you’re, you know, dressing for the weather, make sure that you have something in there that actually substantial and warm itself.
Now we’re going to move on to our third layer, which is your crunchy chocolate outer coating. I think that most people assume that the warmth in the winter, in your layers comes from your coat from your most outer layer, where, when you are using layers effectively.
That outer layer is mostly where you get your weather proofness. So your wind resistance, your rain or waterproofness. Those things happen in that outer layer. If you have a really heavy, really warm outer layer and you take it off and have just a t-shirt underneath, you’ve reduced your ability to use layers to your advantage.
If you can think of your outer, most layer as your weatherproof layer and your warmth in the center, and then your wicking layer as your base layer, you will be able to flex with the temperature changes and easily as possible during your colder weather outdoor activities.
Now, of course, if it’s really cold and it’s going to be sustained cold the whole time that you’re outside, it’s really nice to have a very warm outer, most layer is just kind of nice to learn something new and think about layers as this sort of flexible system where you can increase and decrease the warmth by shedding and adding layers in this, in this way. That’s been recommended by some outdoor experts out there.
So just a quick recap on layers, you have a base layer. You want that to be a wicking layer, so wool or silk or a synthetic performance material. You want an insulation layer. That’s where you get your warmth. A vest is highly recommended by my father and you want a weather. Outer layer that can also be a really warm layer if you’d like.
Is that visual of your crunchy chocolate ice cream gooey caramel center bar gonna help you get dressed this winter? I hope so.
2- Accessorize
Let’s move on to number two, my number two strategy for enjoying the outdoors. Even when it gets colder in the winter is accessories in the winter. You never want to underestimate the power of a hat and gloves and scarf and warm socks. We think we can easily flex into no big deal, I’ll put my hands in my pockets. Okay. That is a recipe for freezing cold disaster in the winter.
If you want to enjoy the time outside, you want to make sure that you’re actually covering your body in a way that keeps it warm. So don’t feel foolish going all out. If you get cold, like I do, you want to have as much of your skin covered as possible.
In fact, during the winter, our bottom drawer in our entry console is filled with gloves, Mike. Use and lose their gloves fairly often as a family, we like to walk or ride our bikes to school every day, rain or shine. And so we pile it on. So I get a bunch of those magic gloves. My older son has a nice pair of gloves.
He bought them for himself and said he was responsible enough to take care of them. So he has a really nice pair of insulated gloves. I have a nice pair, Dave has a couple of nice pairs, the younger kids, we just buy those magic gloves. I probably have 10 pairs of them in this drawer so that they’re available.
Anytime my kids go outside, they have a pair of gloves. We keep their hats nearby. The front door. Everyone has at least one scarf. I think I tend to like scarves more than my kids do, but we have them available, especially if we’re going at, you know, walking around the city or something and socks, warm wool socks.
The same thing we were talking about, the base layer applies here with your socks, the nicest. Winter socks that you can have are going to be a natural wool sock smart wool makes a really you know, a bunch of really amazing pairs. And if you need something even warmer than a wool sock, you may need to come over to the dark side with me and try a pair of battery operated, heated socks.
I mentioned this on the podcast. Last winter, I suffer from an actual condition called Raynaud’s where my fingers and toes go numb in the coal. They have a pretty low tolerance in my extremities for cold. My body actually starts to shut down from the outermost extremities in. I found a pair of battery operated, heated socks on Amazon that has absolutely changed my relationship with the cold in the winter, because my feet are able to stay warm and not go numb.
It’s been bizarre and amazing. So I’m going to make sure that my battery operated socks are linked in the show notes. Also grab a couple pairs of awesome smart wool socks that I can put on there for you.
I have found if I can keep my hands, my feet and my head warm. Those are the places that most quickly lead me to inside. If I’m uncomfortable in my hands and my feet and my head, my ability to cope with a cold really goes down. You may find that kids are the same, that if they are, if you’re able to keep their hands and feet really warm and I have to always a good idea, then your ability to enjoy the outdoors, even though it’s cold, dramatically increase.
So make sure you’re thinking about, and not overlooking accessories for the warmth in these cold seasons.
3- Outdoor Heat Sources
Now the third tip, I’m going to give you our strategy for enjoying the outdoors. During the colder seasons is to spend time near outdoor heat sources. One of our favorite fall winter activities is sitting around our propane fire table.
We also do this in the spring summer full disclosure. I don’t tend to overheat as easily as some people. And so I don’t mind having a fire on all summer long. I love it. In the fall winter, when you not only are enjoying the fire and roasting marshmallows and sipping your hot cocoa, you also actually are gathering heat from the propane fire table itself.
You are able to enjoy spending more time outside than you otherwise might have having a natural heat source outside where you can feel warm as if you were inside, but be outside is a great way to spend some of that time in nature. We have the fire table. We have a hot tub, which is another great way to spend time outside and still stay warm in the winter.
Not everyone can add a hot tub to their yards, but it’s been a really fun addition for us. I found a propane patio heater that I’m super excited about that I’m getting ready to add to our yard as well. The one that I found and I’ll link it in the show notes is not the tall one with the cap. Like, you’ll see it at a lot of outdoor restaurants, it’s actually a lower version. And I really liked that because I think that when I spend time outside, I’m usually seated around a table or sitting down in my conversation set, chatting with friends. So having the heat source outside on that same level as where we’re sitting, I think will be really nice as heat naturally rises.
And so a lot of the reviews for this particular outdoor patio heater said that it’s really nice that it will heat you on your same level. That’s something that I’m going to invest in. And enjoy even more time outside, maybe have some outdoor dinners. We love eating outside next to our barbecue. And in the winter, if it gets a little colder, sometimes we lose our tolerance for that.
And so being able to heat the small space of our dining area outside while we’re enjoying dinner, seems like it’ll be really nice. So tip three is to create or find or invest in some heat sources in your outdoor spaces so that you can enjoy being outside and also have the benefit of being heated as if you are inside.
4- Stay Active
My fourth tip for enjoying the cold, staying warm in the cold, is making sure that your outdoor experiences are somewhat active. Your body is its own natural heat source. If you can move it while you’re outside, you increase your ability to enjoy that time because you don’t get as cold.
Some of our favorite ways to spend time outside are going on bikes, going on, walks in the winter. Particularly we love winter hiking, snowshoeing, sledding, skiing. Some families really love ice skating. I think I’ve shared on the show before. We’re not really an ice skating family. Although we are members of an ice skating rink this year, it naturally came with another membership that we bought.
And so we will maybe be an ice skating family this year. We’ll see, maybe. Talk to your family about a new activity or an activity that you enjoy already as a family that you want to commit to doing a few times a week throughout the whole year. Even if it’s cold, even if it’s snowy, even if it’s rainy or wet, how can you get outside and do some of the activities that you like despite the weather, all of these tips work well together.
You may want to choose an activity and then make sure that you layer up and that you have your accessories. And then when you return, spend some time warming up near your heat source outside, of course, every outdoor activity in the winter and fall should end with some sort of hot beverage cup between your hands, you’re breathing in this, the wonderful fall winter smells of spice, cider, or cocoa or herbal tea.
Whatever you love, finish out those activities with something that really warms you up from the inside out.
I’m curious as I’ve been sharing these tips, have you thought of some ways that you could use these to spend a little bit more time outside this coming fall winter than you have in years past?
Did you get a little bit of clarity on layers or realize that you might need to bulk up your accessory baskets or thought of how you have a perfect space in your yard that could be used for a heat source, like a fire pit or a patio heater?
What are the activities that you and your family love to do?
And how can you convert them into fall winter activities as well as spring, summer, or fair weather activities?
I really want to challenge you and challenge myself to go outside every single day, every day, even just for a little while that study said two hours per week was kind of the baseline where you started to really see those benefits that divides down to just under 20 minutes a day.
Can you spend 20 minutes a day outside, even in the middle of winter? I am going to try.
Bonus tip – Have A Routine That Includes Outdoor Activities
I want to give you a bonus tip because I just thought of this. It’s not written down on my outline. This is something that’s been huge for our family. Having some parts of our routine that are naturally already outside has been an incredible game changer.
One of those things is walking the dog. We have a dog, she loves to go on walks. And so we walk her at least once a day, sometimes twice or more, that is naturally 20 to 30 minutes, at least once a day that we’re spending time outside. She needs to walk when it’s raining, she needs to walk when it’s cold, she needs to walk when it’s, you know, snowing, we try to make accommodations to be able to take her out and go on a walk no matter what, no matter the weather.
Other things that we do as a family, walk or bike to school this year, we’ve mostly been biking so far because it’s been so nice, but it does rain a lot here in the winter and get a little bit icy. So the roads might not be quite as safe for riding our bikes. When that happens, we’ll opt for walking and maybe walking with an umbrella if it’s actually raining.
It’s very, very rare for us to drive to school because we’re close and because we’ve built it into our lifestyle.
So I’m curious if there are couple of ways that you can think of building in the outdoor activity to your regular lifestyle so that it doesn’t feel like you’re going outside of what you normally do, or that you’re adding something to your schedule rather adjusting so that something that you want to do and, and normally would do becomes more of an outdoor oriented activity?
How can you have one or two meals outside per week, rather than always inside? How could you maybe add in a family walk or hike once a week? Maybe you opt to ride your bicycle when you need to go to the post office, rather than always taking the car everywhere.
Now I know, depending on where you live, what type of environment, if you’re in a really suburban area and there aren’t as many things close by for walking or biking, maybe your destination. A library or a market, maybe it’s a playground or a park or maybe just a neighbor’s house. I am just trying to shake up whatever your routine is right now.
And have you look at it with outdoor eyes, because right now, as we’re headed into this season, you have a chance to start practicing some of these new systems of spending a little more time outside in your regular daily life before the cold hits in its fury. And if you can have a little bit of a baseline pattern established, then adding layers and adding a hat and pulling on gloves and, you know, making sure you have your battery operated socks on when you start that walk, that hike, is going to be a lot easier because it will already be built into your system that you’re going outside.
So this is my encouragement for you to just look at your schedule with some new eyes and think, How can I incorporate more outdoor time regularly into my lifestyle? Let me do a quick recap of the four enjoy the outdoors in the winter tips before I give you a couple quick ones for summer.
Number one, layers. Remember your caramel center. Ice cream bar with a crunchy chocolate edge that will help you remember the layers that you need for the winter.
Number two, remember accessories, make sure you have a hat and gloves that are warm and a scarf and socks.Those things all make a huge impact. And collectively may be the difference between enjoying or not enjoying your outdoor activity.
Number three, use some outdoor heat resources. Create some spaces or find space. Spend time with outdoor heat sources.
Number four, up your activity level, make sure that you’re using your body’s heat creation in your hikes and you’re skiing and you’re sledding. And you’re walking in you’re biking during the winter.
Enjoying The Outdoors When It Is Hot
I want to give you just a quick. A couple of tips for the summertime. This is one I have to be honest that I don’t struggle with as much. And I know there’s a lot of people that do that really have a hard time being outside when it’s hot and sunny and sweaty.
And if you live near where I live or somewhere humid, you know, you have that added layer of not only is it hot, but it’s also really, really wet and sweaty. I happen to love that. I’m going to love it all.
I’m going to share a couple of tips though, for maybe how I learned to love it.
1- Be Okay With Getting Sweaty
So the first tip for enjoying the hot summertime weather is going to be a mental shift where you understand that you are going to be sweaty probably, and be okay with that. During the spring summer, I tend to not put on very much makeup. I have sunscreen and maybe a little mascara and that’s about it because I know that whatever else goes on my face is probably going to melt or sweat off.
So just mentally adjusting for that and not trying to do my hair to its fullest, because I know that it’s going to be humid and sweaty. Mentally preparing for if I want to be outside today, I probably am going to be sweaty. Most of the day, that mental shift, all of the sudden makes it. For me and maybe it will for you too.
I mean, you could use that same thing in the winter too. Like I’m going to be freezing cold all day and that’s okay. I just want to allow you to open up to the possibility that your mentality makes a huge impact on your ability to cope. So especially for me in the spring summer saying, yeah, it’s going to be a sweaty one today because I’m going to spend the whole day outside and that’s totally okay because it’s worth it.
2- Use Insulated Water Bottles
Number two. I think it really is helpful to have an insulated water bottle that keeps your water cool. I know it’s better for our bodies to drink water at like room temperature, because it doesn’t require as much energy for it to like heat it up to our actual body temperature and absorb it. I happen to love really cold water though.
So I, this year found a water bottle. I’m obsessed with, I take it everywhere with me and it is fantastic for this I’m drinking way more water than I probably ever have. It’s a Stanley water bottle, but it’s not the one you’re thinking of. So I will make sure that it’s linked in the show notes.
I think it’s amazing. And I love the handle on it because I take it on hikes. I put it in the water bottle thing of my bicycle. It really has been like my right hand woman this summer keeping me hydrated and keeping me comfortable because the water that I’m drinking is usually cold. I can add ice and it will stay cold all day.
So I think being able to hydrate with an insulated water bottle in the summer makes a huge difference in your ability to feel okay in the heat.
3- Breathable Clothing
Number three is to wear breathable clothing. So just like we talked about how important your clothing is to enjoy the outdoors in the winter. It’s the same in the summer.
Now cotton in the summer is going to be more lightweight and breathable. If you do get wet or sweaty, it’s not going to be wicking. It doesn’t drive very quickly. And so depending on what the activity is that you’re doing, you may still opt for a performance fabric. If you’re, you know, going on like a long hike or a run or something for everyday.
During the summer cotton is probably okay. Definitely lighter weight fabrics, like linen are really breathable and nice in the summer as well. Lightweight fabrics, looser, fitting fabrics, things that don’t feel heavy and really constrictive. That’s all really nice in the summer. I wear a ton of summer dresses, just like keeping things easy and breezy dressing in a way.
Enables you to be comfortable outside in the heat and humidity is really helpful.
4- Find Activities Where You Can Cool Off
And then my number four tip similar to our winter time, when you want to find activities that, you know, keep your body moving and warm in the winter in the summer. I think it’s really nice to find activities where you can be cooling off.
So the, you know, things that come to mind right off the bat are water activities. This is why we love swimming. We love to go swimming in the river. I like to kayak and paddleboard in the summer because I spend time in the water and near the water, even hiking along a river is going to be a cooler activity than hiking somewhere where there isn’t water.
It’s naturally just going to be a little bit colder near the water. If you’re hiking in the mountains near a river, you usually have some shade too, because they tend to go through sort of like canyon type situations. Thinking about spending time in or around water or in the shade are going to be ways that your activities in the summer can help offset the natural heat that you’re experience.
So, if you happen to be listening in Australia or South Africa, or somewhere where you are actually headed into the warmer weather instead of the winter, right now, those tips are for you.
Number one, mentally prepare to be sweaty all day, and you’ll be just fine.
Number two, find yourself a great insulated reusable water bottle so that you can stay hydrated with cold water. That will be refreshing.
Number three, make sure that you’re using breathable, summertime, clothing, and dressing for the weather.
And number four, spend as many activities in the water, around the water or in the shade as possible.
Conclusion
Okay. Friends, are we all excited to spend more time outside? No matter the weather.
I know that I’m really looking forward to it. I also just bought a book called no such thing as bad weather. I’ll link it in the show notes. This is a book that was written by a Scandinavian mom with some tips on raising resilient and confident kids. It specifically addresses this idea of spending time outside, no matter the season, which is definitely something that Scandinavian moms understand, I’m really looking forward to reading it.
And I will let you know what I think. Thank you so much for being here and tuning in to episode 1 54 of live free creative podcast. Enjoy the outdoors all year long.
Before I let you go today. I just want to remind you of two things. One that is a little bit timely summer camp, 2022. I know it feels like a long time away.
It’s going to be July 14th through 17th in New Castle, Virginia. I know that it feels like planning way ahead, but that’s who I am. I like planning way ahead. So I’ve got the dates, I’ve got the venue, I’ve got the plans. It’s going to be amazing. And if you register before the end of the month, which is today, then you get a hundred dollars off.
You can use the code EARLYBIRD and register at livefreecreative.co/summer-camp. I would love to see you there.
The first inaugural summer camp was this summer 2021, and it exceeded everyone’s expectations. It was fantastic. There was nowhere else anyone wanted to be, if you want to be with me in the beautiful Virginia summer next year, sign up, register and use the code EARLYBIRD for $100 off. Just good until today. So if you’re listening right now, perfect.
The next thing I want to let you know is that I have a few openings available for my one-on-one creative mentorship. Over the last three years of doing this creative mentorship, I’ve helped people start blogs, successful blogs that are now businesses.
I’ve helped people start Etsy shops, create products to sell, write books, develop courses for their businesses and launch them to super successful launches. I’ve also helped moms who just needed a little bit of support in creating some space for themselves in their life.
My creative mentorship feels like the support of having life coach in your back pocket with also the dozen years of creative business experience that I have, I would love to support you in living your dreams and work with you, one-on-one, to make it happen, you can visit patreon.com/livefreecreative to find out more.
I’ll chat with you again next week. Have a good one. Bye bye.
