3 S's For Woods Wanderers

Slowing down is easier said than done.

I think the difficulty is the product of a socially ingrained inordinate need to generate some kind of   personal performance that we can measure by the same standards that are part of everyday life in a fast-paced world.  We have to be producing something, for some inordinate reason, that is measurable in order to feel we have accomplished something.

I remember back in my professional life when I would take a week of vacation twice a year. I could have taken two weeks at a time but felt my absence would create some sort of inconvenience for people that depended upon me.

People were expecting me to perform at a certain level. People pressed me to perform. I pressed myself to perform. That level became a personal standard for me week in and week out. A week-long vacation was just enough time for me to realize how performance oriented I had become. It would take three or four days for me to disengage and relax. Disengagement usually lasted a day before my mental transmission began gearing back up for returning to the performance routine.

I no longer measure myself according to standard social or cultural performance measurements and haven’t for quite a long time now. Those days, and those pressures, are far back there in the distant past. Busyness is no longer my business. Especially where outdoors is concerned. There is too much to miss out on in the woods by being too busy.

Busyness in the woods is a sure way to remain apart from the woods. Slowing down helps us reconnect and realize that we are a part of the bigger picture painted by the natural world that surrounds us.

We don’t have to get far off the beaten path or go miles to have a great experience in the woods. Any woodlot will do. Every woodlot, and every step in every woodlot, is a destination within itself.

Here is the nutshell version of my 3 S’s for Woods Wandering.

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Watch Your STEPS.

Take three and stop.

We’re not on a military forced march or any sort of power hike. We’re here for the pure and simple pleasure of being here.

Do a SURVEY

Look ahead where those next three steps will take you.

Survey around where you are standing.

Check overhead where your steps will be taking you.

Utilize Your SENSES

Open your gates and absorb all that you can through them … eye-gates, ear-gates, nose-gates.

The sights, sounds, and smells of the woods are in a constant state of change with the coming and unfolding of each season of the year.

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All of us that “take to the woods” do so for an assortment of recreational reasons and share a lot of common ground out there in the woods. Those of us that are seasoned Woods Wanderers are familiar with these 3 S’s in one way or another. 

Others may not define them with S’s. The essences of the S’s are there though in every wander that a Woods Wanderer makes in the woods.

Here’s a link to a blog article that Shirli and I collaborated on that talks about making the most of short trips.

http://woodsmokewoodcraftschool.blogspot.com/2017/01/making-most-of-short-trips_22.html