When you consider spending the night in your sleeping bag, just to feel like you’re camping, it’s a sign that you need to pack up and camp out. Here are four other signs it’s time for you to opt outside again.

You can’t tell what’s “real” anymore

Camping tends to take you far beyond the reach of the manmade world. Bathrooms, walkways, and park offices are often as much concrete structure as you’ll run into, if you aren’t in a primitive campsite. Spending time in nature changes your perspective. The more time you spend surrounded by natural surroundings, the more skeptical you feel about unnatural surroundings. Many people experience a deep philosophical shift when they spend more time in nature. If you stay away from nature too long, your unnatural surroundings start feeling like your natural surroundings, which starts to feel unnatural. When this disconnect grows, it’s a sign you need to take a camping trip and get back into nature. You’ll connect to the real nature of the world, and your true nature you’ve discovered while camping.

You’re a little edgy, a little bitter, and a little tense

Nature will one day be a prescription. A doctor will turn first to a walk in the park, a hike in the hills, a weekend in the forest, or a surf session in the ocean, before prescription medication. ‘Holistic health’ is making its way to the forefront of mainstream modern medicine as more research is being put into the great benefits nature has for mind, body, and spirit. Scientific studies have found that nature reduces stress, increases mood, and fights off the many symptoms stress can cause. When all other forms of stress relief don’t work, you need a new form of treatment. Camping will help you sleep better, feel better, and have a better outlook.

You feel in need of a challenge

Restlessness, irritability, and discontent can be symptoms of boredom. One of the challenges you will face in recovery is the challenge of not being challenged all the time. Learning to live free from addiction means learning to cope with the peaks, valleys, and the plateaus of life. Camping is a great challenge. You can choose the terrain and climate of your choice, go on hikes, and fend for yourself the duration of your trip. Camping can be the perfect reminder of what you’re capable of.

You look at your camping gear longingly

Can you remember the last time you had an adventure? Life can happen, happen fully, and happen quickly. Taking time for yourself is still a part of life. In your spare time, you look up hiking routes, mountain biking trails, and road maps to adventure. You look at your camping gear and ache to get out in the wild. As John Muir once said, the mountains are calling. You must go.

Tree House Recovery creates sustainable change for sustainable recovery. A residential treatment facility for men in Portland, Oregon, our program connects men to the beautiful nature of the Pacific Northwest. Finding freedom from addiction, the Tree House man learns to live a new life. Call us today for information: (503) 850-2474