Reasons to go camping

Reasons to go camping by Mathew De Abaitua.


It provides relief from the screens that surround you.
Gaze into the fire. It will change you.
It comes with low expectations, and so spares you the rage when your expectations fall short of the reality.
It is a negotiation between yourself and the environment. You can neither perfect nor control it.
It gets your children out of the house and into nature.
Nature is where children learn to take risks and where those risks have consequences, unlike computer games.
It opens you to a life with less stuff.
It puts you in a place where preparation is more important to well-being than money.
You discover the land and its moods.
You learn how to train and use fire, and so control the element required for survival.
You negotiate with your enemies; the rain, the mud, and the cold, cold ground.
You realise you are neither helpless nor in command.
It punishes greed.
It confronts you with waste.
It takes you out of domestic comfort.
It is a break from people trying to sell you stuff.