Project Proposal Notes

This plan is a lifestyle adjustment. An outdoor-oriented approach replaces the boring, repetitive behaviors found in a gym with ever-shifting conditions found in local hiking and other outdoor activities. It should result in an increase of physical and mental health.

GOALS:

1. Complete a fundamental lifestyle shift, from sessile to active.

2. Improve cardiovascular health, improve mental health.

3. Integrate my behaviors into the real world, escaping theory and into reality. 

OBJECTIVES AND METHODS:

The objective of this project is to escape the mental and physical diseases caused by an immobile, overly-civilized lifestyle. By getting out of doors, away from most electronics and media, and focusing on vigorous activities (mostly hiking) at a frequency of approximately 2-4 times per week over several months and extending into years, I hope to overcome the cancerous consequences of  my troublingly scholastic and theory-ridden past. Moreover, this self-driven program will trade dutiful, miserable time spent in gyms for joy-filled privilege of reclaiming my inner-four-year-old’s desires to skip down mountainsides.

The method will be primarily to go on short, intense hikes with great frequency, and document anecdotal endurance levels, dietary effects, and mood, as these must change over time. I will also take advantage of adventurous opportunities as they arise, such as infrequent caving, kayaking, dancing, etc.

LITERATURE INSPIRATION:

This project began when I saw Stephen Ilardi’s TED talk, “Depression is a Disease of Civilization”. I determined that I could use acquisitive impulses to drive myself into the wilderness in a natural, non-obligatory way. Informed by William Kappele’s Rockhounding Utah, I have looked into aggressively trudging around some wild terrain and picking up some interesting baubles. The minerals provide a searchable objective, to keep hands and feet in motion.