Successful People’s Outdoor Retreats to Escape Lockdown

What have the great and the good been doing to escape the confinement of lockdown? Like the rest of us, many people have been turning to the great outdoors. Business Optimiser reviews some of the outdoor retreats of successful people.

As much of the world either remains or returns to a state of lockdown, we seek to get a little inspiration from the habits of successful people – and how they have been using the natural world to gain a little respite.

The sour-dour baking and language learning of the first lockdown in spring 2020 almost seems like a lifetime ago now. According to the New York Times, many of us are “languishing” through the second and third waves of lockdown – a middle ground of emotions that exists somewhere between a state of wellbeing and negative mental health problems. It is a state in which we have lost touch with the joys of life and everything is a little bit “meh”.

If this sounds like you – then we’re here to help! Take your inspiration from these successful people and rediscover the joy of life by retreating to the outdoors.

#1. Reese Witherspoon is hiking

Reese Witherspoon has posted photos to Instagram of her and fellow actor Laura Dern hiking in the Californian hills. Fresh air, exercise, and an escape from the city – combined with a socially-distanced chat with a buddy is her recipe to banish lockdown fatigue.

#2. Martin Latham is kayaking

British writer Martin Latham has discovered the joys of kayaking during his lockdown. Living by the sea in Kent, he paddles his light two-seat kayak in the Thames estuary in Swalecliff. He parks in the local nature reserve before heading out on to the water to paddle alongside local wildlife including gannets, seals, catfish and even a little auk!

#3. Michelle Paver is tree climbing

In the same Guardian article, Michelle Paver explains how she has taken up climbing trees in Wimbledon Common to get through lockdown. She says “over the summer, I was in the woods by dawn most days. Climbing the odd tree has been a refuge from worrying about my 89-year-old mother.”

#4. Susannah Constantine is sea swimming

The fashion pundit and TV presenter Susannah Constantine has taken to the seas around her native England to find her retreat from lockdown. Open water swimming has been shown to have great wellbeing and mental health benefits – something for which Susannah is a great advocate.

#5. Emma Smith is bird watching

The author of This is Shakespeare was interested in bird watching before lockdown, but took part in the Oxford swift survey last May which revitalised her interest. Like many of us, she connected with the simple pleasures of watching seeing the birds build their nests and feed their young. She says, “it was a real lift – a sense of a larger world, routines that were not disrupted by the pandemic, a big sky rather than a small room or a screen.”

#6. David Beckham will be lake swimming – soon

The wild swimming craze has many celebrity converts, it seems. According to newspaper reports, David and Victoria Beckham started digging a 3,000 square metre (0.7 acre) lake at their $ 8 million Cotswolds home in September after winning a planning war with their neighbours.

Celebrities aren’t the only ones to be reconnecting with nature during the pandemic. The British wild bird charity the RSPB reported the largest ever participation in its annual bird survey this year. And our desire for new roller skates, walking boots and bicycles has kept many retailers going through this difficult economic period.

Inspired? Why not read our article about the importance of sustainably managed forest and how they can be used for fun?

Or read how getting out to bathe under a forest canopy can be a boost to your creativity!