A day in the woods to process life

May 24, 2010

I have had much on my mind these days. The change of season from spring to summer and all that entails for family life, figuring out how to manage our small gardens in just a couple hours a week, the growing of my children (Celine turned eleven this weekend, e-leven!), my writing and blogging commitments, the challenges of feeding our family well everyday and how to direct the children's education as they grow.

Added to those household concerns are our plans for backpacking next weekend, camping for a full week in June and plans to hike the two highest mountains in New England this summer.

Needless to say I've a lot on my mind and haven't had much time to talk it all out with Damien. Life is, as they say, busy. But we need that time to connect. Damien is a good sound boarding and logical problem solver. Great for someone like myself often wrapped up in emotion and feeling.

Damien and I don't have date nights, we hike with our family and in doing so we have hours together of interrupted time, with no distractions. And the best part about it? I don't even have to style my hair or wear make-up.

Without this weekly time in the woods to sweat, to smell pine sap and balsam fir, to summit a mountain, to talk to my family and think about ways to initiate and sustain change I'm not sure how I'd find time to reflect and process in our busy lives.  
 

How do you make time to process life?
 

Damien recently wrote a great piece on exactly how we get our family out the door for our weekly hikes. This is not philosophical but very practical. We also have a new resource page called Family Outdoors, a compilation of all our family-friendly content at ADVENTUREinPROGRESS. And our favorite outdoorsy photos are posted at our photo blog in case you're needing some inspiration to enjoy the outdoors for yourself.