Under normal circumstances at the end of August, the Alexandria, Minn., community would be getting ready to host its annual Youth Outdoor Activity Day.
These aren’t normal circumstances. Youth Day became one of the many cancellations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the success of this event has been heartening to see over the years. It’s grown to host more than 2,000 kids for a free day of food and fun centered around 40-plus outdoor activities.
The popularity of Youth Day is a reminder for me each summer of how people still want that connection to the outdoors. It’s easy to get caught up in the narrative that we’ve lost that. There are so many entertainment options centered around electronics and sports, but where did people turn to when the sports world came to a halt? Many jumped into the outdoors.
Eric Morken
Fishing license sales in Minnesota were up considerably this past spring. Turkey-hunting licenses followed suit. It was impossible to drive through a residential area without seeing a family out for a walk on a beautiful day in May.
The temperatures were unseasonably cool on July 26. Any time this happens, my mind shifts to the fall and sitting in a tree with my bow. That wasn’t an option, so I taught my 7-year-old daughter how to shoot a BB gun instead.
This was Aubree’s first time ever handling a gun. We set up a milk jug and went over all the safety protocols. Finally ready, she settled the stock lightly into her shoulder, clicked the safety off and squeezed the trigger with her eyes almost shut.
Upon hearing the “plink” of the BB hitting the plastic jug, she looked up at me with a smile. Later that night, Aubree asked if we could shoot again.
Kids want to be outside. They want to explore and try new things and seeing how communities reacted to the world shutting down around them makes me believe that adults do too. So often, we just choose to ignore it. We’re too busy, too this or too that.
Aubree Morken aims at a milk jug on a cool July night this summer as she learns how to shoot a BB gun for the first time. (Eric Morken / Echo Press)
There will come a time when the speed of daily life centered around work and raising a family goes 100 miles an hour again. I hope we remember what it felt like to slow down. How we chose to burn off stress by doing something so simple as going into nature.
Your idea of finding peace outdoors doesn’t have to be the same as my idea. It might not be hunting. Maybe you went fishing for the first time in years. Maybe you rediscovered the physical and mental therapy of running.
Whatever it is, you leaned on nature to find solace or entertainment during a tough time. Don’t forget the power of that when the busyness of daily life starts to catch up to you again.
August 22, 2020 at 03:00AM
https://www.grandforksherald.com/northland-outdoors/6622928-Morken-Don%E2%80%99t-forget-why-you-went-to-the-outdoors-when-life-moves-100-mph-again
Morken: Don't forget why you went to the outdoors when life moves 100 mph again - Grand Forks Herald
https://news.google.com/search?q=forget&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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