Many on this platform carry the preconception that going outside is something you just do. They assume that there is some righteous fire inside of everybody else that fresh air calls to, and that this fire necessarily will never be ignited within them, either because it just doesn't exist in the first place, or because how to kindle it is not known.

This is only partly true. There is a natural human desire to be inside, as evidenced by tens of thousands of years of architecture, (and before then, hundreds of thousands of years of caves and sheltered cliff outcroppings). Within these structures, there has always been the desire to create and socialize; workers downing dozens of beers in a night, children playing pretend with dolls, old women sitting and knitting for hours. People spending time inside. Yet it is somehow the prevailing opinion on this platform that there is something fundamental and certain about vr specifically that makes it incompatible with a healthy relationship with the outdoors.

This is a bleak view to hold, and if I can be frank, a very dangerous one. Believing your lifestyle is incompatible with regular trips outside is one of the many reasons vr users can often struggle with low self-esteem and isolationist tendencies. It is a cycle that perpetuates itself as long as the users in question continue buying into the narrative that going outside is something normal people do that cannot possibly be rewarding for them.

Fortunately, you do not have to consider yourself the kind of person who goes outside, in order to go outside. The secret is making it into an activity in itself.

For someone who does not make a habit of it, it is difficult to imagine a night spent outdoors could be as appealing as a night of vr. That's where this guide comes in.

Now, people rarely go outside without a reason. Some of these reasons are more spurious than others, but for this guide, we will assume that the reader's motive for going outside rests somewhere in the triangle of variety, exercise, and recreation.

This step is not strictly necessary, but greatly enhances the experience of going outside. Pretty much any camera works, but a camera with a viewfinder is a godsend for the artistic quality of your pictures, and provides a good excuse as to why you are wandering around on the street at questionable hours (everybody knows artists are insane in general). Digital is cheap and easiest to start with, but film looks better and scans well. Use your best judgement, and look around on r/photography if this subject interests you.

Also, if you'll be going out at night, you'll want to bring a tripod. Your camera can pick up some pretty dark things if it remains still for a while. Phone tripods are a $5 purchase, while real camera ones are closer to $20, but both will save your life.

Something I like to do is create a dedicated backpack for going outside (you don't have to use a backpack specifically, I just think they're convenient). You can put any number of useful things in here, but some of the things I like to carry are:

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For Grooming/Health:

• Bandages
  
• Toothbrush/toothpaste
  
• Hand sanitizer
  
• Ibuprofen
  
• Lotion
  
• Tissues
  
• Deodorant
  
• Mosquito repellent (if summer)
  
• Mint/gum

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Just Useful:

• Chargers
  
• Paring knife
  
• Water bottle
  
• Umbrella
  
• Bottle opener
  
• Spare socks
  
• Book or two
  
• Lighter (if a smoker)
  
• Trail mix or other snacks

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For W*men:

• Tampons/pads
  
• Hair ties
  
• Pepper spray
  
• Zweihander

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You can pack as many or as few of these as feels necessary. You will likely use few of them while you are outside the first few times, but you never know what might become handy as you start staying out for longer periods.

This is not the kind of guide that claims to know what the reader should listen to while outside. You know that better than anybody. But, I would be remiss if I didn't mention a plan of attack for those who do not have very strong opinions about music, or who don't know very much about it.

For your first time outside, I would recommend music that is slow, and not too ominous or harsh. As you make more trips outside, you can play around with moods, genres, and song orderings. Listening to entire albums often creates a more cohesive experience, although this is up to personal taste.

Audiobooks and podcasts are also an option, although it is sometimes true that they can overshadow the enjoyment of the outing itself. Use with caution.

If you don't know what to listen to for your first time outside, Stillness by Scott Campbell is a very safe bet. If you want something a little more abstract, A Greater Bliss by Wordclock may be it. And, for something monumental and cinematic, try Wilderness by Makeup and Vanity Set.

This is where most people stumble. Staying inside always seems a lot easier than going outside, which is the first and most important obstacle to conquer; if you can clear this hurdle, you've got the whole thing in the bag. Once you are outside, it is not difficult to stay outside.

You must first get dressed before you go outside, though depending on the time of day, 'dressed' might just constitute a pair of sweatpants and crocs. If you live in the type of place that gets chilly at night, wear warmer clothes than you think you'll need. It helps to leave room in the backpack for any layers you end up taking off. You can take a shower before or after depending on the kind of excursion you want to take and what the weather is like.

After you get dressed, check to make sure you have your phone, wallet, and keys. Make sure your phone has enough charge (preferably with some to spare) and if you are using wireless headphones/earbuds, make sure they are charged too. If there are any other essential items you need, ascertain their whereabouts now.

Throughout all this, you should be thinking about where to go. You do not have to be going out for any particular reason, but you should set a goal for yourself; this can be a certain amount of time spent outside, finding a gas station that is still open this late at night, or another completely arbitrary end point for your journey. Don't worry too hard about not reaching it, because you can always change your mind and go someplace else.

The hardest and most exciting part of this is leaving your threshold. Take a deep breath, make a couple false starts if you need to. But on the third time, close your door and don't go back in.

Congratulations! You're outside. What now?

That's a good question. Walk and listen to your music. If you brought a camera, or wish to take pictures on your cell phone, you can do that too.

Now, you are allowed to decide the level of urgency on your trip outside. If you are trying to get to the gas station before it closes, you may speedwalk or run. If you feel like getting some cardio, you can carry on at a light jog. Don't feel obligated to, though; walking is fine exercise if you do it with some regularity.

Since this is your first time, you'll probably have a better time just meandering. You can go as far off your plan as you so want, going in new directions as the urge strikes you. Most people do not really explore much in their day-to-day life, so use this as an opportunity to really map out your surroundings and see what secrets have been lurking right under your nose. Real life has environmental storytelling--see if you can figure out what has happened in a place just by its detritus!

Most trips outside in this manner tend to have a natural arc; enjoyment peaks at some point during, and then begins to drop. You should have some awareness of this arc in your head, as you do not want any part of the journey to start feeling like a chore. One useful hack is to begin heading back home right after some strange, exciting, or otherwise meaningful moment, which you should always try and take a picture of (even if it is low-quality or blurry). This will help you keep track of your excursions.

Outside is home to many beasts and entities. Some of these will be friendly to you, while others may run away. Rules of wildlife conduct will be different depending on where you live, but always be aware of what you may encounter, as well as possible dangers for both you and animals. Never feed wildlife; fed animals may become acclimated to humans, which poses a problem as they then become both more likely to attack unprovoked and a potential source of disease transmission.

Normally the one exception to this rule lies in various kinds of domestic birds, such as pigeons and ducks. However, because of the recent avian flu outbreak in the United States, causing birds to congregate in human settlements unnecessarily is not advised. Maybe in another few months.

Except in the case of service animals, if you encounter somebody with a dog, it is usually permissible to strike up a conversation and ask if you can pet the dog. This requires some level of social fluency, but holds the excellent reward of getting to pet a dog.

Tip: Many creatures are unsettled by eye contact. Deer and large birds will often ignore you if you do not look directly at them and continue moving.

Depending on how your walk goes, you may at some point end up getting scared.

This is a normal part of being outside. Humans have been getting scared for hundreds of thousands of years. Depending on your age, gender, and previous outdoor experience, your anxieties may involve anything from supernatural entities to wildlife and ill-intentioned peers.

You should first evaluate whether these fears are founded. If you have no concrete reason to suspect that Knifehands Greg is watching you from afar (or know that Knifehands Greg was first the construction of some goon on somethingawful who was then responsible for several utterly cringe Knifehands Greg Movies), you should not worry about it.

If your fears are vibes-based, and you still cannot shake them, something that usually helps is listening to upbeat or meme music. Yakety Sax is a proven counteragent for Knifehands Greg.

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If you have decided that there IS reason to be concerned (bear noises in the middle distance, weird guy following you), you should make a beeline to the nearest public place. If you cannot access a public place either because of the time of day or the remoteness of your location, you should find a sheltered hiding place (overhang, public bathroom, behind a neighbor's shed) and wait there until you feel the danger has passed. If you feel genuinely afraid for your safety, do not worry about trespassing. It is better that you get shouted at or taken to the police station than mauled by a bear or sexually assaulted.

If you have a bike, you can use it to go longer distances than you can on foot. They're very good if you want to capitalize on the exercise aspect of going outside, although they are also just fun to ride by themselves.

Wear a helmet. All other advice here is secondary. For added safety, get a headlight and reflector stickers, both of which are cheap at sporting goods stores or on Amazon. If you want, you can also get in on those battery-powered LED tire lights that create colorful patterns as they spin. This is the cyberpunk future, after all.

Be aware of grades and inclines. Many hills are invisible to the naked eye but will severely arrest your progress if you try to bike up them, especially if that is not something you do regularly. Many map services are able to calculate the overall slope of a route. Make good use of this information, although eventually it will become redundant as you gain passive awareness of elevation differences around your home.

Biking is not advised in winter, or on particularly muddy roads.

Now that you know the ins and outs of going outside at its most basic level, we can now raise our game.

I have deliberately not mentioned car travel until this point, primarily because not all vr users have access to a car for some reason or another; some of us are too young to drive, some cannot afford a car, and some limit their driving on purpose. But, if you do have access to a car you can use, this will greatly enhance your flexibility and range.

Once you have gone outside a few times, look around for hiking guides for your area. Contrary to popular belief, most hiking does not actually require any special skills, and is just a slightly more pretentious way to say that you like going on walks in nature. If you do decide to go out in any kind of wilderness, pay special attention to weather, wildlife, and terrain limitations, but do not treat it like it is especially difficult either. Be wary of leaving the trail unless you know the area well, and if cell service is limited or spotty, do your best not to leave it at all. If the area you are hiking in is wooded, create markers indicating the direction you came from at junctions. These can be anything, but most people use rocks, sticks, or brightly colored ribbons.

If hiking is not appealing to you, you can also use your car to go places where walking long distances is unneeded. Very little of the world population lives somewhere that is not a couple hours drive from someplace beautiful and quiet. The internet can help you find these places, and if you live somewhere that does not cause much online discussion, local book and sporting goods stores usually have recommendations.

Staying inside, for most vr users, seems like an easier way to spend time. Unfortunately, when confronted with two activities, the easier option will always top the rewarding option until the rewarding one is made easier. This is the purpose of this guide.

I will tell you this too: going outside can be painful, but it is necessary. Over time, regular excursions will fine-tune your enjoyment threshold, making it easier to keep your attention on other things you used to enjoy, like books and art.

If the idea of going outside does not interest you at all, that's fine. But you should ask yourself why. If you have a concrete reason, such as an illness or disability, you may continue without pause. But if all that's stopping you is a sense of vague unease about the very idea of being outside, actually leaving your house might be the one thing that will help you most of all.



Photos by R. Smith.

Before leaving comments on this guide, please take a look at my other guide.