Getting Outside After Days Indoors
For the stretch when you have not been outside in days and the door feels heavier than it is. It sets the bar at the end of the street, puts the first trip in daylight, and asks for five still minutes out there rather than a brisk walk.
Outdoors · Movement · Self-Care · 8 items · once a day
The checklist
- Set the bar at the end of the street — a short walk still counts as having been out.
- Go before you are properly dressed for it — a coat over what you have on will do.
- Put the first trip in daylight if you can — morning light does more for you than an evening walk.
- Pick a route with no errand attached — a run to the store is useful, not restorative.
- Or take the long way to something you need — the mailbox or the trash can carry the trip.
- Leave the headphones off for part of it — outside sounds different when you can hear it.
- Sit on a bench instead of turning back — five still minutes out there is the whole point.
- Notice what the air felt like once you are in — that is the part worth remembering tomorrow.
Use this checklist Free account: tick items off and keep each day's record.
How to use it
Run through it once a day, honestly and without scoring yourself. A checklist is a way of noticing, not a test: an item you cannot tick is information about the day, not a verdict on you. Over a few weeks the pattern of what gets ticked and what does not says more than any single pass.
With a free Theraglee account the checklist remembers each pass, so you can look back. Without one, you can still read it here and keep your own copy.