After reading Florence Williams’ The 3-Day Effect, I wanted to experiment on my friends and see what benefits we experienced on our upcoming Memorial Day camping trip. Our little group had an amazing weekend in the mountains of Virginia from Friday afternoon to Monday morning. We had a lot of conversations about how our minds and bodies were adjusting to our return to nature.
We know anecdotally that time spent in nature is beneficial, but there are scientific studies demonstrating various positive impacts on health, cognitive function, stress, and emotional wellbeing. I recently finished a book on the effects of three days in nature on the human mind and body, and this post is set to publish while I, myself, am camping in the mountains for three days.
I started Lent this year by diving right into the deep end. Ash Wednesday meant a trip to State College for a conference, and since I was already halfway across the state, I continued east to see my parents for a belated birthday celebration with my dad. A lot of car time means a lot of travel food, which typically means a lot of packaging. (And a late night at work on Tuesday meant next to no prep time.)