Get Outdoors to Get Unstuck

Ah, cabin fever. I know it too well. For some reason I am a person who thirsts to be outside most of the time. I feel more comfortable when there aren’t walls around me. I am very rarely interested in putting myself in a position where there is no immediate exit route. (Ask my family about what it took to convince me to get on a cruise ship. And don’t even get me started on airplanes.)  

Snow days in the city are often not my finest moment. Yes, we can go outside and shovel and make snow angels, build snowmen and look at the frosty beauty of the city covered in powder. But inevitably you get cold and wet and need to come in. And stay in. Not so great for me.

Today’s snowstorm, especially because it is at the moment more of a hail storm, affords me the opportunity to sit and think about why I’m always wanting to be outside, and what I can learn from it. What’s the problem with being indoors?

1.   Lack of movement.

Many of us do our best thinking when we're in motion. There are plenty of studies that link movement to learning; the same applies to working through sticky challenges, developing alternative solutions to long-standing problems, and just figuring out the logistics of how you’re going to be in three places at once tomorrow morning. Other studies have shown that walking boosts divergent thinking, which generates creativity through the exploration of multiple possible solutions to a problem.

2.   Lack of perspective.

Creativity, key to innovation, needs a varied diet just like our bodies do. One way to feed our creative powers is to give our eyes and our brain something to look at that is constantly changing. When we’re at our desks our eyes have one visual plane to absorb, and that’s it. When we’re out walking, we’re feeding ourselves with an ever-changing landscape and a depth of field that shifts from the cracks in the pavement to the skyscraper looming above us.

3.   Lack of fresh air.

I don’t care how many houseplants you have, how many diffusers, humidifiers, air purifiers, and how often you sage smudge. There is no replacement for good fresh air. Even when it’s city air.

4.   Lack of journey.

Often I ask that my clients come to see me in my office rather than visiting them in theirs. I believe there is something about a different environment that gives them a healthy and necessary new perspective. It gets them out of a potential mental jams that may be waiting for them at their desk or in their conference room. But importantly, there is a bit of magic in the act of the journey. A subway ride or a walk gives us the opportunity to think about what we are going to discuss, and the voyage back to office or home gives us time to digest our findings and contemplate next steps.

But here’s the rub:

Our monthly Tide Risers Unstickher sessions are three hours long and take place in a conference room. We have a lot of work to get done, so we only take one 15 minute break. I do insist that everyone find a new seat within the room after the break so they have a different perspective and new people to talk with, but still – it’s three hours in a room.

So at our next Unstickher session we plan to incorporate a Movement Moment to get us up out of our seats and stretching our bodies. We’ll be collaborating with the super-talented movement mavens of Citrine Pilates & Wellness to design a five-minute program to get our creative juices moving in an office environment. 

Additionally, our retreat will be a great opportunity to get us outside and moving in breathtaking landscapes. Nature affords us some particularly critical opportunities for innovative thinking and mental health.

All of which is great, but we also need to find ways to incorporate movement and the outdoors into our daily routines. What do you do to get yourself outside and unstuck?