7 Compelling Reasons to Try Solo Camping

It’s always fun to get a group together for a few nights in the woods, and it can be just as fun to go solo camping. After you move past your fears of being alone and push past other people’s fear of you being alone, you’ll discover some really rad benefits of solo camping.

Benefits of Solo Camping

1) Develop Resourcefulness

Resourcefulness means that you’re able to overcome difficulties in a quick and clever way. It benefits you in many ways, and solo camping can help you hone this skill.

When you find yourself missing an item or something breaks, you can give yourself the time and space to think about what you can do to solve the problem. Maybe you MacGyver a new tool or contraption to get the job done. Or you decide to reach out to a neighboring camper for help.

Resourcefulness allows you to develop a deep understanding of your unique strengths and abilities. And it encourages you to face fears and self-doubts.

Instead of buying into the belief “I can’t do this,” you turn to yourself first. You have to. You try everything you can think of first – and then you call for help, if needed. If you struggle to face challenges on a day-to-day basis, then solo camping is the perfect place to practice this skill.

2) An Opportunity for Self-Reflection

In our media-saturated society, it’s rare that you get time to just be with yourself, unless you’re a unique snowflake who takes time out of your day to intentionally do so already. If you don’t, then solo camping gives you the perfect opportunity for self-reflection. You get a whole day or two or more to be with yourself.

For some, this is scary. What will come up? What do you do with it?

With a little love and compassion, you can honor your weaknesses and your strengths. You can challenge unhealthy or old beliefs. You can re-write your story. You can contemplate your life purpose or merely care for your aching heart. Or you can foster feelings of deep joy and love. These moments are precious and necessary for a healthy relationship with self.

3) Provides Stress Relief

Okay, you may be questioning this one. For you, maybe it will cause a little stress to be out in the woods all alone. But once you get past these fears, you’ll have moments of being utterly present with nature, life, and yourself.

It’s in these moments that your stress melts away. You breathe deeply, soak up the sunshine and listen to the sounds of nature. Many studies have shown the deeply relaxing power of nature. You’ll be grateful anytime you can get yourself outside for that powerful stress relief.

4) Boosts Confidence

Overcoming your fears and self-doubts gives you a direct experience of your powers and abilities. When you successfully solo camp, you squash fears about being alone, your ability to set up a camp and provide for yourself, your ability to protect yourself, your navigation skills and much more.

As you jump each hurdle, your confidence grows exponentially. You get a big boost to your self-esteem. Now you know you can do it. It alters your beliefs about yourself, and you’ll be a different person from that point forward.

5) Go at Your Own Pace

If it has been awhile since you’ve spent time alone, then going at your own pace will be completely foreign to you. You may be used to doing what your kids want or yielding to friends or your partner. When you’re solo camping there’s no one to yield to but yourself.

At first, it’ll feel strange. You’ll question: well, what do I do now? But you’ll soon get into the swing of things. And it’ll feel so good to get up when you want, take a walk when you want, and eat whenever you want. You decide. How refreshing.

6) A Greater Connection with Nature

Mother Nature’s ancient roots have something to teach you. As you sink into the rhythm of solo camping, you’ll also sink into nature’s rhythm.

The sunrise and the chirping birds will wake you up. The encroaching darkness beckons you to sleep. The soft breezes and sweet fragrances of the woods call you to hike, wander, and explore. An instinctual way of being will be drawn out of you.

It’ll feel so natural that getting back to the real world may even be turbulent at first, because the two are so far apart at times. Our society turns a cold shoulder to nature with our constant light and sounds, 24-hour news cycle, and screens that pull us into virtual realities.

Your time in nature makes the contrast greater, which can be unsettling for some. For others, it’s empowering. It shows you the difference between what’s real and natural and what’s not. And from that place, you can choose to live your life in sync or not.

7) No Distractions

Absolutely none. No phone calls, emails, or texts, unless you’re on your phone and within service range. And if that’s the case, then turn off your phone, so you can solo camp distraction free. No children, partners, boss, co-workers,  friends, family, or neighbors making requests of your time and energy. No TV, radio, or Internet hijacking your mind.

If you have an unhealthy relationship with any of these daily elements, then solo camping brings you to a space of no distractions. It’s a space where you can evaluate your relationships and redesign your life. You can be 100 percent present with yourself. And that’s just beautiful.

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