By: David Ball
It’s the end of August and the summer heat is finally burning off. The mental math you have to do every time you leave the house for how much water to bring, are your clothes going to be comfortable or too hot, will the ice cream melt before I even get to enjoy? All those questions fade away with the cooler late summer temperatures and you can go outside and simply enjoy what you’re doing rather than strategizing to survive it. So, what should you do with this new-found freedom? I have a few suggestions.
- Tune up your neglected bike in the garage and go for a ride around your neighborhood. Isaac Newton changed our understanding of the world with his Laws of Motion, and I often times believe they apply to our lifestyle just as much as to physical objects. An object in motion stays in motion, rather than driving to your favorite park or evening hangout with friends, bike over there. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at how much more energy you have when you get there and you’ll probably see parts of your neighborhood you’ve never seen before.
- You’ve probably seen Top Gun, but if the original Top Gun came out today they wouldn’t be playing Volleyball in denim pants – they’d be playing Spike Ball. That hip new game everyone plays in the park that’s replaced hacky-sack for college kids? It’s surprisingly enjoyable, easy to learn and unlike Top Gun, you don’t have to risk diving in the sand to save the game (unless you’re that committed).
- “Have you ever had Tiger’s Blood?” Sound like a question you never thought you’d ask yourself? Well, hope on your bike and pedal over to your closest Sno Cone shack and see what wild combinations of flavors they have available for you to try. It hasn’t been proven, but I’m pretty sure the fountain of youth tastes like something you’d get from a Sno Cone shack. These are perfect for some quick family fun, or a way to cool off and get some sugar in your system after taking advantage of the cooler, late summer, temps.
- If you haven’t read Thoreau’s essay “Walking” I would recommend looking it up and then promptly going for an evening stroll right after. Sauntering is actually derived from a phrase for people who wandered around in the Middle Ages trying to make their way to The Holy Land. Thoreau goes on to say “For every walk is a sort of crusade…we are but faint-hearted crusaders…our expeditions are but tours and come round again at evening to the old hearth-side from which we set out. We should go forth on the shortest walk, perchance, in the spirit of undying adventure, never to return, - prepared to send back our embalmed hearts only as relics to our desolate kingdoms.”
That may sound like quite a lot to ask from a simple walk around the neighborhood, but why not try and treat a walk like a noble enterprise, a setting off to conquer a new part of ourselves rather than a retracing of steps.
I hope these ideas help you get outside and take advantage of whatever your neighborhood has to offer!
About the Author:
David Ball
David considers himself the ambassador of the “Radically Mediocre” lifestyle. He defines this as being able to “hang with people doing just about anything and not slow them down.” You can find him trying to get people to talk to him about the book he just read in coffee shops, or in the western U.S. getting pumped out on scary trad leads (and follows), skydiving, split-boarding and trail running in his home mountain range, the Wasatch, with his dog Margo. Follow him on instagram at @DavidDenverBall.
