Make It Your New Year's Resolution To Camp More In 2017

2017 has arrived and many of us are now back at work after the Christmas break. There are many reasons to be fearful for the future and we are living through turbulent times but there are also plenty of reasons to be cheerful. There is a wonderful world out there and it is time we all began to appreciate it more. The natural environment is all the more beautiful for the fact that it is so fragile. What better way to reset our mindsets and appreciate the world of nature more than camping? Camping can show us truths about our world and about ourselves that it can be easy to forget in our modern bubbles. It can reconnect us with the 'real' world in all its splendour and beauty.

As we are now often being told, we are living in a 'post-truth' era. We are all of us heavily bombarded from all sides by opinion, conjecture and outright lies. Clarity is hard to maintain but when we regularly take a breather from the web and from the mainstream media on a camping holiday, we can find the time and space we need to regain a sense of perspective and can begin to regain a sense of how things truly are.

What is more, a camping holiday is great for stress relief. Stress can also cloud the mind and make us feel as though we are walking through treacle. Busting that stress on a camping adventure, where we can breathe the fresh air and literally stop and smell the flowers, is a wonderful way to improve our capacity for independent thought and help us regain a sense of who we truly are and what we truly believe.

A camping trip with a loved one, with friends or with family, can help us to reconnect in meaningful ways with those around us. We can reforge connections and regain a sense of grounding that comes from the strong connections we form with those closest to us. Only with the firm footing of those connections can we be buoyed up to become the best we can be and achieve the things of which we are truly capable.

A camping adventure can also help us see what we are truly capable of achieving. When we pit ourselves against the elements, scale mountains, cycle miles, hike across country carrying our homes on our backs, we are using depths of self-reliance that we are rarely aware of possessing in our everyday lives. Adventure camping can boost our self esteem and, by allowing us to spend time in our own company, thrown back on our own resources, can help us become our own best selves.

If your new year's resolution is to get fitter – camp more. If your new year's resolution is to lose weight – camp more. If your new year's resolution is to spend more time with your loved ones – camp more. If you want to do better at work, with relationships, in your general life – camp more. Camping can be far more than just a hobby or the chance for a cheap holiday; camping can be part of a better, kinder, smarter, healthier way of life. So make it your new year's resolution to camp more in 2017.