You Should be Nourishing Your Mind and Soul with Outdoor Experiences
Are you a non-stop side hustler? me too.
For the greater part of the last 3 years, starting at the age of 24, I have been using my spare time to work on my side-hustles. My projects consist of video editing and writing mainly in Greek and English. I knew that I have one full weekend to work and scraps of time after my 9 to 5 job.
Even though I enjoy my day job, I want to create opportunities that allow me to be creative and each some extra money. I received invitations for excursions or even 7 days-vacation, but I rejected 99% of them. “I must dedicate as much time as I can, to these projects. If I did not invest time in my 20’s then when will I have the energy to do so? ” I thought.
My life was based on the following standard motif. A typical day included working my 9 to 5 job and then going straight home to concentrate on my side-hustles. The alternative was sleeping all afternoon until next morning. I was too tired after a full work week, plus the 2–3 hours of side-hustling every day.
But I didn’t worry. I had all weekend ahead of me.
Days seemed similar. Identical weeks went by for months, like being on autopilot. Sometimes I wouldn’t achieve my initial goals and end up feeling frustrated, dedicating even more hours working on the weekends and bailing on my friends. I continued the path of staying inside every weekend, working on my projects until I experienced a paradoxical feeling for someone with such a productive schedule.
I would wake up on a Sunday morning, fully rested from my Saturday side-hustle and I would feel exhausted on an emotional level. It seemed that I was physically rested and simultaneously emotionally drained. Turns out, that this kind of polarity can happen. Prior to this experience, I wouldn’t believe that a person can be rested and tired at the same time.
Funny enough, at first I neglected my feelings and continued my side-hustling course until I reached a point where I was fed up. The feeling of emptiness would persist even harder each time I chose to ignore it.
And then I acknowledged it.
With the help of a person I love deeply and given the fact that I live in Greece, hence I have access to crystal-clear-water beaches, awesome forests and lakes within less an hour drive, I’ve minimized the time I spend on my side-hustle on the weekends and started exploring the world around me.
I got to tell you, even though I am staying behind on my projects, this is unbelievably rejuvenating.
Apart from little daily excursions, the past weekend I went on a mini-road trip, visiting three towns, one lake and closing with a swim at a beach, driving approximately 700 kilometers (430 miles) in less than 48 hours.
The experience was nectar for my soul.
We put so much on our plate that we forget to be patient.
Most young people like myself buy into the notion of side-hustling and forget how to live. Even though no one told us to deprive experiences from ourselves , we take it to the extreme, ending up in situations similar to the one you’ve read.
We imagine that if we decide to do what it takes to succeed, our soul and body will follow. We become stressed about reaching our milestones, no matter how outlandish they are that we can’t shift perceptive even for one minute and acknowledge that we do well. It’s only after the burnout we realize:
We just have to be patient.
We presume that hard work is all that matters and set aside our peace of mind. We refuse to hear our inner voice that wants to burst out and advice us that “it’s ok to take a break”. We can resume our task with more focus and intensity after we have replenished our self with outdoor activities that we enjoy deeply.
There is no “how to”, you just do it.
At first, organizing short trips will be challenging. Your mind will tend to revolve around the tasks you have to complete filling you with doubts about going out. You will probably overthink what’s the best location for you, making it difficult to decide, you will end up on the verge of quitting the trip altogether and eventually stay home to hustle.
The best thing you can do is pack your things and exit your house. Then just drive or take the commute and start towards one destination you had in mind. In that way, you can start breaking the pattern of staying home all day working and start a new one.
You might expect a more systematic, like a “how to” way to get out of your house and take a brake from your side-hustle, but I don’t have any. Some things won’t solve themselves, no matter how much thought you put into them. Instead you need to supply your self with practical evidence, such as pack your stuff and go on an adventure.
I am going to close with a made-up quote that sums up the story:
“Nourish your mind with your side hustle and your soul with outdoor experiences.”
