My first thought when hearing about the 1000 Hours Outside Challenge? Sounds great, but that’s impossible for us.
Both Amy and I worked — a lot. Our kids spent the entire day in creche (daycare). We lived in an apartment in a city. There was no backyard we could chuck the kids into to leave to their own devices.
But moving to Dublin, Ireland had an unintended consequence: more time outside. We had no choice. With no car, we either walked or took public transportation. Instead of driving everywhere like we did in Albany:
- We walked 2km to get groceries at SuperValu
- Rode bikes into the city center to catch a movie
- Spent hours at playgrounds in Phoenix Park, Inchicore, and Malahide
At the end of 2021, Amy started talking about the 1000 Hours Outside Challenge. Despite my initial skepticism (1,000 hours?! 3 hours a day?) we started tracking our time outside. We realized with existing habits, we were already tracking close to that goal.
And we loved the lifestyle.