My Changing Outdoor Image
I’ve been having a conflict of late, which is why this blog has been largely silent. (O.k., that’s one reason, the other was that I’ve been insanely busy, but since no one really wants to read a post about that, we’ll stick with I’ve been conflicted.) My conflict centers around the fact that, while other people may see me as an outdoor voice and an outdoorsperson, I don’t really see myself that way. I’ve always been a woman who likes her creature comforts. As my recent trip to Texas proves, I’m very much enamored of room service and plush hotels. I’m not much inclined to tramp around in the cold and the wet, or the hot and the humid for that matter. If I see a snake you’ll hear my scream three states away, and my sense of direction means any hike I take has a 50/50 chance of being a hunt for home. I’m probably the unlikeliest of people to be writing about the outdoors, let alone actually participating in outdoor activities.
I struggled with this fact for a while because I started feeling like a bit of a fraud. When I’m writing for the Outdoor Bloggers Summit I’m writing on behalf of the organization and I’m writing as a blogger. I have a lot of experience in being a writer, I’ve been writing one thing or another since I was six years old. I know how to write and I know how to give advice about writing and blogging and marketing. More to the point, I feel qualified to give advice and talk about writing. I feel like I’ve earned my spurs in that arena.
When it comes to the outdoors I’m not even sure I qualify for novice status. While there are things I want to try, there is also a lot of stuff about the outdoors (dirt, heat, snakes, animals that bite) that doesn’t appeal to me at all. There is also the fact that I support a lot of activities, say hunting for instance, and write about those activities, without ever having done them and without really being sure I will ever want to do them.
I think, sometimes, I feel a bit like Jody does, a trifle insecure about my status in this outdoor world that I’m just learning to know, a bit concerned that I might be trying to seem like something I’m not, and a little bit eager to see if I could be something more than what I think I am. If I’m being totally honest, there’s still a part of me that like the outdoors best when viewing it through a window. There is, however, also another part of me that wants to be out there, to test the limits of what I can do, or at least of what I want to do.
I’ve come to grips with the fact that I will never be the consummate outdoor woman. It’s taken a little longer to get comfortable with the idea that I don’t have to be. I guess I needed to hit myself over the head with one of the things that I so often say on the OBS blog, the outdoors is for everyone. There isn’t a prescribed way to enjoy it, and there isn’t a specified amount of time you must spend. Everyone goes about enjoying the outdoors in their own way, and that’s a good thing.
11 Comments
Wolfy
I’d like to add a little bit of perspective to your post, looking at it from the outside. Take it for what it’s worth.
There are a TON of blogs from avid outdoorsmen / women. “I shot the biggest buck” “I catch only the biggest fish” “I won this tournament again” IMHO – dull, boring reads, and I don’t follow them.
Going along with a novice/ newcomer as they experience likes (and dislikes) in the world of the outdoors invigorates me. It reminds me of WHY I love the outdoors, something we all take for granted at times. When I read your posts, or Jody’s, or look for mushrooms with Wandering Owl, or go out for a bit of saltwater fishing in Fiji with Fish Whisperer, I’m experiencing something new through the writer’s perspective. Whether its a new adventure (Fiji) or a re-affirmation about why the outdoors is so captivating and enjoyable, I look forward to them all.
And I find it hard to believe that I am alone.
Blog because you like to write, because you want to say something. Don’t worry about being worthy of post – the only piece not worth posting is the one unwritten!
My $ .02
Wolfy
Live to Hunt
Kristine – me thinks you worry too much!
Your voice, regardless of your experience, is one that is welcomed and admired by many. I, for one, am not concerned whether you are an outdoorswoman or not, but that you have an open mind and seek to understand the many aspects of the outdoors. You are open to understanding why we hunt, fish, etc. and appreciate and reflect that in your own writings. One of the most frustrating things about many non-outdoors people is that they rush to judgement, draw wide and dramatic assumptions about our sports and ways of life, and really fail to take the time to understand and appreciate the importance of a family heritage, spending time in God’s great outdoors, and all the other benefits of doing what we do. I only with there were more of you that would engage in the conversation.
Blessed
I enjoy the balance you bring to the world of outdoor writers. Keep up the good work both here and at the OBS.
Arthur
Baby steps to the bus.
I don’t think any of us are going to chastise you because you haven’t spent as much time in the outdoors as some of us have. What it comes down to is that you WANT to be in the outdoors.
You can start small, and if you find that you’re only comfortable with taking hikes down a nature trail, and not comfortable camping in the wilderness, then so be it.
I like the diversity you bring. Keep it up.
The Hunter's Wife
Kristine, I’ve always seen myself like you, indoors girl. I still do but if it wasn’t for my husband I would have never known how much I enjoy fishing. Instead of laying on a beach somewhere, I’d rather be out on the water. Never thought I would ever say that.
My advice to you is get out there and enjoy it. And then write about it.
If you lived closer I make you go in the woods with me for the first time.
wanderingowl
Comment
Kristine – We all don’t have to be the chest-bumping, high-fiving, TV- hunting-show types to think that we are outdoorspeople. We all come at this differently. The Mystery and Grandeur of the things outside should be enough!
And whether or not you are an “outdoorswoman”, you really are helping folks. You and the folks that started this have enabled others to find their outdoor voice, and have provided a community for them.
So you don’t think you want to go catch and kiss a catfish for the whole world to see? Try this. Go for a walk on a pleasant day and write about it. Somebody has said that they could write a book by what they see happen one day while sitting under a tree. THAT is the outdoors, and there should be MORE of it. You may be the perfect candidate for that assignment!
Michelle
Comment
I feel your conflict as I have the same. Many of my “outdoor friends” laugh at me and label me “posh huntress” or something along those lines. I, too, stay in 4 star hotels and worry more about where my next meal is going to be when outdoors than what we are actually hunting. Sometimes I feel I am living two lives and wonder if my two personalities will ever come out and fight. One day I spend in a spa, the next day I am on the range. I own a gun and I scrapbook. That should be a bumper sticker.
We are only conflicted b/c we care too much of what others think.
Henhouse Potter
Kristine –
If I waited to write until I felt validated about it, I’d never pen a word.
I’m not the best potter. I’m an amateur hunter (at best). I still don’t like touching fish with my bare hands. And there are days when I break down and buy something at the Walmart that I feel like a fraud in the simplicity department.
The reason I blog about those things? Because they are things that captivate me. I want support while I try it all out, while I work my way through it. After all, I’m not giving instructions on hunting or fishing, or killing chickens, or composting. I’m just sharing my feelings about those things.
I enjoy what you have to say. I think your passion for the outdoors is a much more interesting read than some of the seasoned professionals out there who want to write about the hardcore aspects of hunting or a technical post about a new gun, etc…
Keep writing!
Matt
I think everyone else has already said what needs to be said, so I’ll keep this simple:
Quit worryin’; you’re doin’ fine!
NorCal Cazadora
See, Kristine? Your friends love you for what you are.
Gabe Davis
I always find it funny when people talk about the outdoors as though it is a alien place that you need to have special expertise to enjoy. Outside is are our natural environment, everything else is what we built (unnatural). We built it for a reason…we like it. So don’t feel bad you can still appreciate a waterful even if you end the day in a jacuzzi.