Get Outside & Connect: Go Green

Hello everyone! How is your challenge to connect going? I hope you all have been enjoying getting outside everyday to connect with what matters most to you. This weeks post is dedicated to my husband, my brothers, and everyone else that goes green daily. You have inspired me to do it again…

Get Outside & Connect Activity Week #4: Go Green

This weeks activity is to go green for a day, the week, or as much as you can for the rest of your life. Ultimately it’s up to you. When I speak of going green for this activity I am specifically referring to making your commute [whether its to work, school, or the grocery store] green. Choosing to walk, ride a bike, take public transportation, or ride in a car pool is an environmentally friendly choice whose time is long overdue. There are many people out there that make this choice daily, and my husband, brothers, and many of my friends are among them. My husband and brothers ride their bike to work every day… And I used to as well–whoops!

Having a baby put me back in my car for some time now. Although I’d say I only drive about once or twice a week–I take the car instead of my bike. My bike has a bike seat for my daughter [as you can see below and on my about page] but I still get in the car every time. In my defense, it is usually to go someplace all the way across town that would be a long dangerous ride so I don’t do it. This week that is going to change. I am going to pick a day that my daughter and I need to go somewhere and we are going to take my bike, and I’m going to continue to do it as often as possible.

When I used to work as a personal trainer, I never understood why someone would drive their car to work, park as close as they can to their office, take the elevator, and drive to the gym after work only to ride the stationary bike, climb the Stairmaster, or walk on the treadmill–huh!? Why not ride your bike to work, take the stairs, and skip the gym to spend time with your family or doing something you love instead of spending your evenings at the gym? [If your single and love going to the gym in the evenings that statement doesn’t apply to you–so sorry to offend. I was that person once upon a time–I get it.]

I love riding my bike, and loved riding my bike to work and everywhere else I rode on it for years. I’m looking forward to this but I have to be honest–I’m not looking forward to getting on my bike to go to the only two places my daughter and I regularly get in the car to go. This is going to be a challenge for me and that’s why I need to do it.

It was a challenge for me to get out of my car and on my bike the first time I did it. My brothers decided to go green a long time before I did. [They rode with critical mass in San Francisco in the early 90’s.] Much to my both of my brothers dismay, I choose to drive to work when I was an ocean lifeguard living in Santa Monica commuting to Venice Beach to work–what was wrong with me!? Once I got over the issues of hauling my gear around with me I got on my bike and never drove to work again. I couldn’t.

I felt so free and alive riding my bike to work. My husband and I only got in the car about once per week to take care of all the things we couldn’t do on bikes. We often wondered why we even had the one car we did–we barely used it. The only reason we kept it was because it was paid off, and it’s still the only car we have today. My husband rides his bike to work rain or shine and its not because I need to use it–its what he believes in. He has been a bike commuter since he was in college, and like my brothers often didn’t even own a car. It’s no wonder I was attracted to him. Marrying him made me the person I wanted to be but struggled to become on my own.

Even when I was in my first trimester of pregnancy working as a nurse’s assistant at an elementary school [and had to bring, and change into, work clothes every day] I loved riding my bike to work. My husband and I even rode our bikes to bowling league night [with our bowling bags in our bike baskets] and out to fancy dinners–I’m not kidding.

Have you ever been to Paris? Never will you see so many stylish women riding around on their bikes. You too can ride in heels! Then I got too pregnant to ride my bike and that was all she rode–hahaha! [I made a punny!]

So here we are… right back where we started. Let’s go green shall we? Come on… we can do it together. Walk, ride, or skate to your kids to school and/or to work, head out to the park or to dinner on bikes with the family, or just go for a ride to get outside.  Come on… It’ll be fun! See you outside!

Previous articles in the Get Outside & Connect series:

• A 52 Week Challenge
• How To Create A Nature Journal
• Spy On Squirrels
• Take Your Camera For A Walk