Why Sunday should be your adventure day

Photographer: Marita Hills

Why Sunday should be your adventure day

Block off one day per week for outdoor excursions

Posted on 16.09.2019

Block off one day per week for athletic and outdoor excursions that otherwise would be difficult to schedule.

Ever since I wrote about the concept of the ‘microadventure’, I’ve been thinking about it. The clever idea behind it is to squeeze outdoor adventures into the busy workweek by getting outside between the hours of 5 p.m. and 9 a.m. After all, there’s nothing preventing you from heading straight to work after a night of sleeping in a tent!

I wrote at the time that we are too susceptible to an all-or-nothing attitude when it comes to adventuring, planning spectacular month-long bike trips or wilderness canoe trips, while neglecting the day-to-day exposure to nature that we all crave.

For a busy parent like myself, however, the microadventure in its traditional sense isn’t all that easy. It takes so much work to pack up a family, gear, and food that I am not inclined to do it on a typical Tuesday. But that’s why I like Sundays. They have become our unofficial adventure day, a once-weekly chance to get all of us outside for a prolonged period of time, without competing demands of work, extra-curricular activities, and bedtime curfews.

Depending on your personality type, you may feel an urge to spend Sundays lazing around the house or working frantically to prepare for the upcoming week. But surely there are better ways to spend the day, like hiking, boating, climbing, or camping. Engaging in such adventures are a surefire way to eradicate the ‘Sunday scaries’ and make you feel like you’ve really squeezed everything you could out of the weekend.

Hence my proposal to make Sunday an adventure day. Historically it was a day of rest or a day of worship for many families; but now that attending church is less common (particularly in my very secular country of Canada), planning a regular outing for oneself and one’s family members could become a wonderful new substitute. It could bring families closer together, create lifelong memories, promote healthy lifestyle habits, and encourage people to explore places they wouldn’t normally go.

Here are some ideas for Sunday adventures:

  • Go for a hike. Get a map of the area and mark all the trails you’d like to complete in a given season. Gather a group of people who want to join you on a regular basis.
  • Go for a bike ride. Choose a nearby town and head out for a ride. Reward yourself with coffee or lunch once you reach your destination. Or visit your local bike shop and see if there’s a group you can ride with. Bonus: The highways tend to be quieter on Sundays.
  • Go camping. Choose a campground that’s not too far away and head there the night before. Spend Sunday lounging around the campground, tending the fire and reading a book. Alternatively, go there on Sunday and take whatever clothes you need to go straight to work the next morning.
  • Sign up for a lesson. See if you can take sailing, tennis, or scuba diving classes on Sundays, which will hold you accountable to getting out each week.
  • Set an athletic goal and train on Sundays. Have you dreamed of biking a certain distance, running a marathon, or getting serious about climbing? Make Sunday your training day.
  • Organize a picnic. Commit to eating dinner outside every Sunday (weather permitting). Take your kids or invite friends and tell everyone it’s a potluck. Choose different scenic locations each week.
  • Try a new sport. This past winter my family took up cross-country skiing and downhill skiing, and on several occasions rented equipment on Sundays to hone our new skills.
  • Go for a wild swim. This trend (see article) involves slipping into natural swimming holes for a quick dip, even if the water is frigidly cold. The effect is “great and buzzy,” as described by one avid wild swimmer.

These are just a few ideas. What would you do if Sunday became your weekly adventure day?

Source

Treehugger

 

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