Give me AC or give me death. Bugs are my sworn enemy on this earth and I am happy to live a complete, separate life away from them by remaining inside when I have the choice. So, taking a nature walk was not my ideal situation. But my enthusiastic friend urged me to go with him so I agreed to spend one day in nature. And that’s how we found ourselves lost in the woods on a beautiful Saturday.

We set off on our walk with a general idea where the land reservation was but not an exact idea on the directions. But hey, a nature walk was already a pretty spontaneous thing for me so, forget directions! As we made our way to what we thought was the marked land reservation, we told stories and joked about old times. Being outside not only felt liberating (and, I’ll admit that the air was pretty refreshing), but taking a walk with an old friend was such an easy and casual way to spend time and have fun. Walking on a path, without a phone in hand, made me just so more aware of what was going on around me and gave me a fresh head.

We stumbled upon a path to which we thought would lead us to a park, but really was just directly into the woods. Not only were we able to laugh at ourselves and pretend to be contestants on Survivor but, it was a beautiful day and the forest was such a calming place. For someone who rarely finds themselves in the woods, being surrounded by nothing but trees and grass was such an interesting way to spend an afternoon. And while yes, it was very hot and my feet started to ache, meandering around in the wilderness and simply enjoying myself and my surroundings was a really fulfilling experience, something I was really not familiar with at all.

While we did joke a lot, we found ourselves falling into many comfortable silences and just enjoying where we were. There wasn’t a pressing need to chat because we could just simply walk and take in what was around us.

After a while we did have to resort to Google Maps to find our way back home. On our way back (we had only wandered about 1.6 miles from my house), I found myself tired, yet in such a rewarding way. With sore muscles and achy feet, I was ready to enter back into my preferred indoors. But for the rest of the day, I was laid back. My mind felt clear and everything that would normally stress me out, surprisingly didn’t upset me that much. Now I certainly will not get up at the crack of dawn to take on a 6-mile hike, but as the temperature gets warmer, I might swap sitting on the couch for walking around my neighborhood. As long as the bugs remain out of my way, that is.