I feel like I’m in an underground bunker

June 9, 2023 1:58 PM

How can I get the feeling of going outside when I cannot go outside?

The past week has made me realize how much I value going outside. Value feels like too weak a description: I need to go outside. I’ve just spent the last hour fantasizing about rolling around in the dirt and grass outside or even just leaning out of an open window. But air quality has prevented me from going outside or even opening my windows.

I’ve considered indoor gardening but I have two cats who destroy indoor plants.

I don’t really know how to recreate the outside & will consider all ideas. Here’s some of my favorite outdoor things: highly physical gardening (wedding, digging up plants, hauling dirt and rocks), watching clouds, sitting in the sun, walking barefoot outside, all water things —- running through a sprinkle, wading in creeks, swimming, drinking from the hose.

Being outside just makes me feel like my ego melts away. I’m just out there, being a being.

posted by CMcG to Health & Fitness (22 answers total)

Forgive if this is a silly question, but could you tell us a little bit more about why you can’t go outside?

If you’re in the NE of North America and experiencing smoke for the first time, I feel you. I’m in the same boat. I just put on an N95 and went for it. But again, let us know if there’s more to the story!

(I really don’t want to be That Guy Who Doesn’t Answer The Question As Posed, but masks really help! )
posted by functionequalsform at 2:06 PM on June 9, 2023 [7 favorites]

When I had my first MRI a while ago, one of the things that made it easier was that there was a gentle breeze blowing down my arms, which made me feel, if I closed my eyes, like I was lying outdoors. I'd suggest a gentle fan blowing gently onto your skin, put on some audio of trees, birdsong or water, lie back, let your eyes gently close, and imagine yourself outdoors. It's not the same, but it's still pretty good.
posted by penguin pie at 2:23 PM on June 9, 2023 [5 favorites]

Quality time in the shower? I can't think of how to replicate the plant stuff unless you have plants in your house, but I assume you have running water.

In 2020 I posted pictures from all my island landscape calendars all over the walls.
posted by jenfullmoon at 2:24 PM on June 9, 2023 [4 favorites]

do you have a bathtub? you can re-create a kind of nightswimming experience if you hang up fairy lights across the room, turn off the rest of the lights, and lean back into the water. oddly enough, colored lights seem to work better. i’ve done this a hundred times to turn winter into summer, i’m certain it’d work to turn indoors into out.
posted by mochapickle at 2:35 PM on June 9, 2023 [11 favorites]

We dealt with really horrible wildfire smoke for several days in Portland, Oregon in September 2020. We were still in pretty heavy Covid lockdowns, and being stuck indoors felt incredibly oppressive. I'm so sorry you are also dealing with horrible air quality and gross skies. I love them but I don't think my indoor plants helped.

I'd suggest watching a nature documentary, maybe of someplace lush and green?

You could also start some seeds for plants that your cats are allowed to nibble on (like maybe wheatgrass, but you can google options). You could grow them along side some microgreens for salads for you, perhaps out of the cats' reach.

And if you do want to consider some house plants: I found some cat repellent that worked so well that my kitties stopped nibbling my plants. The kind I found was sold by a plant shop, but you can find formulas online for plant-safe oils that aren't toxic to cats, but they don't like them.

You could also maybe plan a summer vacation outside?
posted by bluedaisy at 3:26 PM on June 9, 2023 [2 favorites]

Similar to mochapickle, I find taking a shower in the dark or almost-dark helps me feel a connection to nature.

But really, sometimes you just have to get in a car and drive to where there isn't so much smoke or you'll go mad. And sometimes that is just a really, really far drive.
posted by potrzebie at 4:03 PM on June 9, 2023 [4 favorites]

A treadmill or walking pad is useful in at least burning off some energy
posted by raccoon409 at 5:54 PM on June 9, 2023 [2 favorites]

mynoise.net has many absolutely wonderful outdoor soundscapes.
posted by foxfirefey at 5:54 PM on June 9, 2023 [7 favorites]

I had the same feeling earlier in the week - it's really hard to be trapped inside. Sometimes you need to stay indoors for your safety - not sure if i would take the suggestion to go outside in a mask. You can still get sick from smoke exposure to your body.

Frequent showers helped. Also drinking tea and making art (even scribbles count) can be soothing.
posted by starlybri at 6:26 PM on June 9, 2023 [2 favorites]

This is a little off the wall, perhaps, but you mention enjoying sitting in the sun.

And sitting in the sun generates quite a bit of vitamin D.

I think vitamin D could very well have a direct influence on mood and your overall sense of well-being, so maybe it would be worth taking vitamin D3 supplements on the high side of therapeutic doses, which I’ve seen put as high as 10,000 IU a day, and assessing how that makes you feel.

If you decide to try it, I think you ought to look into the kinetics of supplement absorption and time the peak blood levels to match the time you would be sitting in the sun if you could be sitting in the sun.
posted by jamjam at 7:08 PM on June 9, 2023 [1 favorite]

When Los Angeles went through months of desolate air quality in 2020 when I had an infant, I studied the air quality maps in detail and found a few pockets where, due to mountain geography, they had less-bad air quality. I could drive there and BREATHE a little. It was a 45 minute drive each way with an infant who hated her car seat and would screech awfully the entire time. Absolutely worth it.
posted by samthemander at 8:31 PM on June 9, 2023 [3 favorites]

Oh, this is the opposite of your question, but also from that 2020 lockdown fire smoke period of “can’t go inside anywhere, can’t go outside anywhere,” I also took the reverse approach and LEANED IN. I started spooky season in the summer. I made a playlist of spooky Halloween songs, ate candy and apples, thought of fall thoughts, and planned our Halloween costumes.
posted by samthemander at 8:33 PM on June 9, 2023 [4 favorites]

Are you familiar with hygge? Might be worth a try.
posted by SageTrail at 9:41 PM on June 9, 2023 [1 favorite]

One thing I do in the colder season when it's hard to get outside is play an open world sandbox video game featuring a lot of moving around varied, realistic terrain. I've been playing Assassins Creed Odyssey, but there's a lot of options.
posted by Superilla at 10:34 PM on June 9, 2023 [3 favorites]

Replace your light bulbs with daylight bulbs. They make a huge difference!
posted by summerstorm at 10:54 PM on June 9, 2023 [3 favorites]

I have a lot of experience with this because I live in a part of the country where we regularly experience wildfire smoke at this level in the summer and fall. Things that help: Houseplants, running water as in a portable fountain, nature sounds (rain, birds, rushing stream, etc), long-play YouTube nature videos streaming to the TV, moving air from a fan, closing the curtains so the light inside is not that dystopian orange brown but rather the indoor lighting that, while not daylight, is at least something your brain registers as "normal."
posted by HotToddy at 7:41 AM on June 10, 2023 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: Thank you, everyone! Just having all these options helps me feel better. And jam jam's comment reminded me that I can sit inside but *in the sun* during time periods when the smoke is cleared enough to let normal sunlight in.
posted by CMcG at 8:48 AM on June 10, 2023 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Also just to answer the question of going for it, outside and in a mask: I appear to have a skin reaction to even moderate levels and my young kid (who did not know what was going on) told me their "head was tingly" so to be on the safe side, we are staying in.
posted by CMcG at 8:50 AM on June 10, 2023 [2 favorites]

Another option for indoor plants would be some kind of mini greenhouse or greenhouse cabinet that you put some LED lights in. Tons of DIY builds and purchasable options if you search those terms.
posted by deludingmyself at 11:12 AM on June 10, 2023 [2 favorites]

One of the nice things about the outdoors is the moving air. Try a fan that changes the direction of the draft it creates and point it at the space beside you while you are moving around doing stuff. You'll feel the breeze unpredictably that way.

Look for virtual walk videos and watch them on a large sized screen while standing or sitting close to the screen. There are some nice ones that people took during covid lockdown.

Cover a window screen with thin plastic film (dry cleaner bag plastic, for example), in such a way that no air will get in around the screen or through it, and put it in an open window - you'll hear the outdoor sounds fairly well but not have to deal with the air quality.

Play an active game like pitch and catch - use a nerf ball.
posted by Jane the Brown at 4:48 PM on June 10, 2023

When I crave this in the winter, I go to one of the local greenhouse/conservatories in town or the zoo. These have some lush plants and humidity, and really nice lighting.
posted by advicepig at 8:37 AM on June 12, 2023 [1 favorite]

Hanging plants, especially scented perligoniums, bloomers, and herbs, add a daylight lamp to keep them healthy and give you some light therapy. Cats can't get to them and they're eye level for you. Quiet and delicate wind chimes both wood and metal and a low fan to stir them once in a while. A small indoor fountain and/or even a cat water fountain for actual water sound. Gentle low evening lights like a salt lamp or moon phase lamp. Nature sounds like birds, rain, wind played almost imperceptibly low.
posted by BlueHorse at 4:21 PM on June 12, 2023 [1 favorite]