I’m in a hamster-on-a-wheel frame of mind right now. We have been going to a lot of Back-to-School events, which means a lot of people I only kind of know have been looking for something to talk to me about. And the inevitable question at those types of things is always: “How was your summer?”
I dread that question because my summer was…well…just like my fall, winter and spring. With two exceptions: it was still light out when I left the office and I wore flip flops to work sometimes.
Labor Day is approaching and the days are getting shorter. I have suddenly been hit by the very sad fact that we did not go on a summer vacation. The boys had a great summer; they didn’t miss the vacation part. My husband and I are the ones who missed the whole “lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer.”
So I am reminding myself–and anyone who might possibly be reading these ridiculous rants and silly stories to GET OUT.
Get outside. Get dirty. Play. Make memories. Swim and splash and run. In other words: Step away from the computer/desk/ipad/tv/DS/Wii. Go do something outside for 30 minutes. Right now, people!!!!
We probably don’t need a study to tell us spending time outdoors is good for our minds and for our souls. But in case you don’t believe anything unless some scientists and researchers tell you, read this on treehugger.
Here is the 30-second version: dirt makes us smarter and less anxious. According to a 2010 study at The Sage Colleges in Troy, New York, mice that ate a soil bacterium called Mycobacterium vaccae navigated the maze faster and with less anxiety than the control group.
Talk about a natural antidepressant and performance booster. If they packaged this stuff, sold it in little pill bottles and (for some inexplicable reason) advertised it by showing a happy couple sitting in separate clawfoot bathtubs overlooking the ocean, we’d all be lining up to buy it.
So the next time I let D. pick up and eat the sandwich he just dropped on the ground or I find L. licking a rock in the garden (it wouldn’t be the first time), I don’t have to feel guilty. In fact, I can feel downright good about it. Those dirt-speckled sandwiches and soil encrusted rocks may help them get into Harvard one day. At the very least, it will make them care less when they have to settle for a community college.
In fact, if it makes us smarter and less anxious, I might just add a spoonful to my morning latte. That gives a whole new meaning to a Dirty Chai.
