How a Shared Experience Brings Us Closer

A lot of times when we think of getting into the wild, it’s a solo quest. An individual journey to traverse the path less taken. We think of Henry David Thoreau living alone in a cabin in the woods for two years, so that he could “live deep and suck out all the marrow of life.”?

But while Henry David Thoreau technically lived alone in the cabin in the woods, he wasn’t actually isolated. In fact, he was just a twenty-minute walk to his mother’s, who did his laundry and made him home cooked meals during his two-year stint. And he had friends come to visit his cabin. Now, this isn’t to say there isn’t value in being alone in Nature. Just that it’s not always the solo quest we imagine.

In fact, many recent studies have shown that there’s a lot of power in the shared experience. That doing something with someone else makes that experience more intense. That there’s potentially more value in the shared social connection than in the actual experience itself. It’s these shared experiences that bring us together, and make us feel less depressed, anxious, isolated and increase our self-esteem.?

This is to say you can have your transformative Nature experience and share it, too. Want to disconnect and recharge? Want to bond with your son? Head out to the woods together. Gather some firewood and roast a hotdog. It will literally taste better when you’re together.?

Sources:

The Importance of Sharing Experiences (The Atlantic)

Shared Experiences Offer Psychological Benefits (Main Line Today)

The Value of Shared Experiences (Nurse Next Door)

Six Facts About Henry David Thoreau's Walden (Books Tell You Why)