The Final Straw team decided that, although we really love living inside of a UNESCO World Hertiage site, it’s still a city, and a city largely devoid of nature.
But Edinburgh has some amazing natural-esque parks just outside of the city center. Holyrood Park, the Royal Botanic Gardens, and Water of Leith are all easy walking distance. The problem we faced, is that we’ve constrained ourselves to a 8am-6pm working schedule each day, a schedule which, while sometimes quite productive, can get a bit stifling creatively.
So we decided to alter our schedule — just a tiny bit — each week, in a way that would boost our creativity, energy level, and productivity. Once a week, every week, during working hours we’re doing the following for 4 hours:
- Closing our laptops
- Packing some tea/coffee/biscuits
- Gathering a group of friends and other willing participants
- Enjoying a full morning of walk/run/picnic/nap/etc… natural setting nearby
So far it feels amazing.
The Edinburgh Nature Mornings Facebook group which facilitates the weekly meetings is also slowly expanding. We’re guessing that many folks really feel a need to have this kind of outing and connection, not just with the environment, but with others outside of the context of work.
Enjoy the images below from our first two outings, and let us know if you’ve done something similar to your workday. We’d love to hear from you!
